Kris Marubayashi is a sansei (third generation Japanese American) born and raised in New York and now based in Sacramento, Calif. She hails from a family of artists which include her building and landscape architect father (who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright) and her mother who was trained in decorative arts.
Kris first took up clay work in the 1970s and received her B.A. in studio art at San Francisco State University where she studied under American ceramic artist David Kuraoka. Then she took a 30-year break to pursue other interests, family and a career in education administration. In 2005 she felt the calling again and established a studio in her Sacramento home. In 2012 she began showing her work at shows and in studios.
Marubayashi uses various techniques and tools including the wheel, slab roller, rolling pin, press molds, slump molds, and hand building. While primarily using clay, she is exploring concrete (for its strength, unrestricted size, and flexibility), metal, and paper clay, and experimenting with different additives. Using a mid-fire clay (cone 4-6), her pieces are highly textural, and often resemble rocks and geological formations.
Kris regularly displays at several shows per year in addition to having an annual open studio at her home. Over the past few years she has become a regular at the largest juried craft show on the West Coast, the American Craft Council (ACC) show held at Fort Mason in San Francisco. In 2013, 2014, and 2016 Marubayashi was one of nine artists selected to display in a designer created mini-room at the ACC. In 2018, she won an award of merit at CraftForms. In 2018 and 2019, “Best of Ceramics” at Sun Valley Center Arts and Crafts Festival, and in 2019 “Best Ceramics” at American Craft Council, St Paul. In 2019, she was selected to participate in the Sasama ICAF ceramic festival in Japan.
Marubayashi is a member of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. Her work can be seen at the Ren Brown Collection Gallery in Bodega Bay, CA.
