Shan Ross
MFA ’25 Fine Arts Low-Residency
Visiting Instructor/Graduate Studio and Exhibitions Assistant
Coming Undone is crafted from wheel-thrown stoneware vessels and atmospherically fired in the soda kiln at MassArt. The individual pieces balance in tension with one another, simultaneously holding the structure together while also creating a sense that it could shift or come apart.
I’m drawn to ceramics in part because of its long human history as a functional object. Storage, and ritual are the most prevalent ways I consider this in my practice. In this work, I’m interested in how that history of function sits alongside instability. The piece operates through small moments of misalignment where tension and imbalance are clearly visible rather than resolved. While ceramic forms are often associated with permanence and care, here functionality and instability exist in direct relationship to one another.
At its core, Coming Undone considers the value of continuing to show up through imperfection and instability, where things don’t fully resolve but still manage to hold.
Shan Ross is an artist and educator, in Medford, Massachusetts. Their practice centers clay vessels and explores vulnerability and repair. Drawing inspiration from functional ceramics and community, their work encourages connection.
Shan received an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2025, where they are now a Visiting Instructor and the Graduate Studios and Exhibition Assistant. They recently completed an Anagama Residency in Fujioka, Japan and are also on the Board of Directors at Arts Collaborative Medford.
