Miles Lawton Gracey

Miles Lawton Gracey initially studied music composition at a college in San Luis Obispo but quickly shifted focus to other creative fields, which led him to woodworking. The root of his artistic practice remains an expressive spirit of lyrical engagement with memory and sensory experience, underpinned by unmatched technical efficiency and charming sleights of hand.

In the spirit of 20th-century collage, Gracey effortlessly layers the subtle aromatics of wood, finely-grained veneers, delicate fretwork, and playful marquetry into functional objects and containers that await human interaction. Somewhere between puzzle and poetry, Gracey's sculptures balance the preciousness and precarity of finely-tuned artistry with unpretentious labor, experimental techniques, and play. Turned off by a "don't touch" rigueur, he admits "that was the initial allure of the tactile arts, you could actually relate to them as opposed to passively viewing."

Miles Gracey grew up in California, receiving an BFA in Sculpture New Genre from Otis College of Art and Design. He attended The Krenov School of Fine Woodworking. Gracey has attended residencies at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and was recently a fellow at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine and a resident artist at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. He is currently pursuing an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. His work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, Houston, and San Francisco.