This summer, Studio Tashtego, the contemporary art, design, and craft gallery in Cold Spring, New York, presents Colour Assembly, an exhibition of work by U.K.-based ceramicist Caroline Gray. Marking the artist’s first solo exhibition in the United States, the presentation introduces a new body of functional sculptures, including table lamps, wall sconces, candleholders, and bookends.
“Caroline’s work is truly at the intersection of sculpture and design, with pieces that compellingly explore form, light, and color while also providing excellent functionality,” remarks Julia Caldwell, founder and curator of Studio Tashtego. “This new body of work brings rich color to the forefront, exploring the ways it interacts with surfaces, angles, and curvature. The collection is a refreshing and exciting new direction at a time when our clients are looking to incorporate unique color palettes into their projects.”
At the heart of Gray’s practice is the slow, contemplative process of hand-building and the use of colored terra sigillata, an ultra-refined clay slip first seen in Ancient Roman and Greek pottery that creates a smooth, low-sheen to softly glossy finish without traditional glaze. Working from flat templates, Gray’s freehand slab-building technique allows each piece to evolve intuitively as she alters, splices, and rejoins the clay to create the curves, planes and angles that ensure each piece remains subtly distinct.
Each piece in the exhibition is crafted in a rich, monochromatic palette of deep blue-black, earthy brown, and grey-green, lifted by accents of muted lemon and mauve. Individually, the works read as distinct sculptural moments; together, they form one-of-a-kind groupings that create playful yet considered compositions. Highlights include further iterations of Gray’s sculptural table lamps in new shapes, alongside newly developed wall sconces defined by soft, sculptural folds, and a series of wall-mounted forms.
“This new collection for Studio Tashtego extends my sculptural language,” says Caroline Gray. “I work without drawings, allowing shapes to emerge intuitively through a sleight of hand or a decisive cut that can change the entire direction of a piece. That’s the exciting part of the making process: when a piece surprises me.”
Colour Assembly is on view through July 26, 2026.
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