UPCOMING EXHIBITS
Creation is the first of four interconnected bodies of work that together trace the full arc of human spiritual experience. Comprising paintings and textile works drawn from the creation myths of Aboriginal, Judeo-Christian, Chinese, Native American, Norse and Inca traditions, the series asks how different cultures have imagined the moment before everything began. Three bodies of work will follow responding to Dante’s Divine Comedy—Inferno, Pugatorio and Paradiso—which together chart the journey from darkness through transformation toward transcendence. Where Creation begins at the origin of all things, the Dante trilogy moves through the full human passage toward final illumination. Taken together, the four series constitute a life’s work in the deepest sense: a sustained meditation on where we came from, what we endure and where we might arrive.
With the exception of black and white fabrics, all textile materials used in the Creation series were designed and printed by Grayson, extending her painting practice directly into the fabric itself. Each color, pattern and surface in these works originated in her studio, making the Creation textiles a seamless extension of her visual language across media.
Creation, comprised of twenty paintings and textile works, will be on display November/December 2026 at LexArts, 161 N. Mill Street in Lexington, Kentucky. Opening reception is Friday, November 20, 2026 from 5-8 pm as part of Gallery Hop.
Gadawan | Acrylic on canvas | 36” x 36” | 2025
Sixth Day | Acrylic on canvas | 30” x 60” | 2025
Second Day | Acrylic on canvas | 30” x 60” | 2025
First Day | Oil on canvas | 96” x 48” | 2020
CURRENT EXHIBITS
Woven Sky, Wild Earth—May 1-July 2026 | Hockensmith Fine Arts | Georgetown, Kentucky
Woven Sky, Wild Earth brings together a series of textile paintings that explore landscape and botanical forms through layering, stitching and abstraction. Working with fabric as both material and language, the pieces build terrain and flora from fragments—cut, pieced and quilted into compositions that shift between representation and invention. Bold color, visible stitching and tactile surfaces emphasize the process just as much as the image, inviting a closer, slower look. These works re-imagine the natural world not as something observed at a distance, but as something constructed, handled and felt.
SELECTED PAST SOLO EXHIBITS
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
NEW EDITIONS GALLERY
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY
MAY-JULY 2024
Additional Exhibition:
Morlan Gallery; Transylvania University; Lexington, Kentucky— November/December 2025 (partial exhibition presented as Rematerialize in conjunction with a piano recital of score by Dr. Greg Partain and an artist talk)
In 1874, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the composer Modest Mussorgsky composed a suite for piano based upon his reaction to a retrospective exhibit of paintings and drawings done by his late friend, Viktor Hartmann who had died unexpectedly just months before. This suite, “Pictures at an Exhibition” ,is comprised of ten movements, each of which is based upon a painting or drawing seen in the exhibit. These ten movements are connected with five promenades, movements meant to depict Mussorgsky walking into and through the exhibit. The suite has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists and has been widely performed both as a piano solo and as adapted for orchestras. Maurice Revel’s 1922 adaptation for orchestra is perhaps the best known. This suite is considered by many to be Mussorgsky’s greatest work. The final movement, “The Great Gate of Kiev”, is widely considered to be his greatest single composition. In creating the work for this exhibit, Grayson basically did what Mussorgsky did but in reverse. Mussorgsky composed music inspired by his reaction to pieces of visual art. Grayson created visual art inspired by Mussorgsky’s piano suite.
Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks in their Shells | Acrylic on canvas | 48” x 48” | 2024
Byldo | Acrylic on wooden cradle panels (diptych) | 72 “ x 48” | 2024
Gnomus | Acrylic on wooden cradle panel | 48” x 48” | 2024
Cum Mortis in Lingua Mortua | Acrylic on wooden cradle panel | 30” x 30” | 2024
Catacombae Sepulchrum Romanum | Acrylic on wooden cradle panel } 36” x 36” | 2024
NOT BEIGE
NEW EDITIONS GALLERY
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY
MAY-JULY 2022
Circles in Time | Acrylic on wooden cradle panel | 36” x 36” | 2022
Blues Explosion | Acrylic on wooden cradle panel | 36” x 36”: | 2021
Not Beige is exactly what its name promises—a sustained refusal of the safe, the neutral and the expected. Working in acrylic on canvas or wooden cradle panel, Grayson pursues the expressive possibilities of geometric and biomorphic abstraction through a chromatic intelligence that is fully her own. Interlocking planes, architectural grids and organic curvilinear forms move against and through each other in palettes that range from the bold to the quietly luminous. The circle—recurring throughout the series as both formal anchor and visual signature—appears in endless variation, never decorative, always doing structural work. Not Beige is painting as position: a declaration that color, form and surface are themselves sufficient subjects and that sufficiency need never be boring.
City on a Hill | Acrylic on wooden cradle panel | 48” x 36” | 2022
Eventide | Acrylic on wooden cradle panel (ciptych) | 60” x 60” | 2022
Intersection | Acrylic on wooden cradle panel | 30” x 40” | 2022
ASIAN FUSION
LEXINGTON ART LEAGUE
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY
JAN-MAR. 2022
Additional Exhibition:
Christian Brothers University; Memphis, TN—2022 (partial exhibition presented as Raw Silk)
Christ Church Cathedral; Lexington, KY—Gallery Hop Venue—2018 (partial exhibition presented as Beneath Cherry Blossoms
The eastern world, sometimes referred to as the Far East, is a geographical region that includes the Russian Far East and Eastern and Southeastern Asia. Significantly, the term evokes cultural as well as geographical separation. Not only is the eastern world geographically distant but its culture is, in many ways, exotically different from that of the western world. The richness and sensuality of this culture form the basis for the work in this exhibit. This exhibit contains pieces depicting cultural icons, symbols, colors and myths from Japan, Korea, China, India and Vietnam. In researching and preparing the work for this exhibit, Grayson became convinced that all people, east or west, north or south, face the same challenges and crave the same things—love, peace, beauty, prosperity, health, and spiritual satisfaction. These themes were repeated throughout the materials she researched for this exhibit and found their way into the work created for this exhibit.
The challenge in creating this work has been to integrate the icons and richness of the culture depicted with the more western abstract aesthetic. Abstractions of jumping koi, cranes, kimonos, lanterns, lotus as well as ancient themes and myths are all included in this work—each piece completed in fiber collage with a contemporary treatment. This exhibit is a “fusion” in two ways. First, the work derives from influences from various Asian countries and these influences have been fused into one exhibit of work. Second, the work involves a fusion of ancient icons and cultural themes with contemporary art principles.
Buddhist Prayer | Fabric and thread | 30” x 30” | 2019
Chinese Lanterns I | Fabric and thread | 60” x 30” | 2021
Japanese Torii | Fabric, thread and found objects | 56” x 56” | 2018
Cherry Blossoms | Fabric and thread | 52” x 52” | 2018
GO BIG OR GO HOME
GATEWAY REGIONAL ART CENTER
MT. STERLING, KENTUCKY
AUGUST 2016
Celebratory Turquoise | Acrylic on canvas | 60” x 60” | 2015
”Go Big or Go Home” continued my exploration of my favorite themes of color and texture in Grayson’s preferred large formats. The title of the exhibit was a quote from a dear friend of hers who always extorted her to “go big or go home”.
Celestial Celebration | Acrylic on canvas | 36” x 36” | 2016
Adriano’s Meadow | Acrylic on canvas | 30” x 30” | 2016
Ezekiel Saw the Wheel | Acrylic and washi paper on wooden cradle panel | 36” x 36” | 2016
Soft Rain on Adriano’s Field | Acrylic on canvas | 36” x 36” | 2016
HOLY LUTES
CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY
FEBRUARY 2013
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS UNIV.
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
OCTOBER 2O11
Of Life, Love & Wings | Acrylic on paper | 20”x 30” |2011
Of Life Love & Wings II | Acrylic on paper | 20” x 30” | 2011
“Holy Lutes” was a body of over 60 paintings and mixed media pieces that Grayson exhibited first at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee and subsequently at Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington, Kentucky. The works were inspired by her reading of sacred poetry across time and religious tradition. She found herself absorbed in ancient poems and 20th century works. Each of the poems she selected inspired her to create a painting. The paintings were abstractions painted intuitively and based upon her reactions to the meaning of the poem.
Where Dreams Remain | Acrylic on paper | 20” x 30” | 2012
Bosom on the Sea | Acrylic on paper | 14” x 218” | 2013