Suncatcher

Suncatcher presents new ceramic works from Grace Hager and takes its name from a recurrent sculptural form: a tree whose limbs appear to ‘catch’ the sun or moon. Continuing with a studio interest in the sun as a nuanced, natural subject that can act as metaphor for both renewed hope and oppressive intensity, Suncatcher is timed to run for the six-week period before the summer solstice, celebrating the lengthening days and warming season in the lead up to the longest day of the year.

Grace Hager (b. 1993, Los Angeles, CA) is an interdisciplinary painter and ceramic sculptor. Her work locates the natural world as a realm of possibility: a source of transformative encounters that generate awe, positioning the magical within the observable world. She received a Master of Fine Arts in 2023 and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with a Minor in Art History in 2015 both from Maine College of Art & Design. Grace has exhibited throughout the United States, including at the NYC Crit Club, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Caldbeck Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Art – Portland, ME, Wassaic Project, MEPAINTSME, OVERLAP Gallery, CT State Gateway Community College, and The Parsonage, and George Marshall Store Gallery, among others. 

She is the recipient of multiple grants and awards including a CERF+ Get Ready Grant, a MAC Springboard Grant, a partial James Bernard Haggarty Scholarship, a grant from the Belvedere Fund, and a project grant from the Puffin Foundation. She is the recipient of a Fellowship in Painting from Vermont Studio Center and has been an artist-in-residence at Wassaic Project, Cuttyhunk Island Artist Residency, and the Seguiland Institute, among others. She currently lives and works in South Portland, Maine.