Home Artist Programs Supported Artists Anina Major

Anina Major

New York, New York

“Crawfish Armor” is a stoneware structure, with a base of brown curved rods in a cup form, woven through at the top with red-orange wishbone stacks. Sitting on top are ceramic strips woven into a rounded form with an open top. The color shifts from deep to light orange with dark speckles and drips.

Crawfish Armor

2023

“Chasing Waterfalls” is a stoneware structure of basket-woven ribbed strips of ceramic, wrapped in bands to form an irregular vertical cylinder. The shiny glaze transitions from olive green to blue and turquoise.

Chasing Waterfalls

2022

“Bridged Over” is a stoneware sculpture of two connected vessels. On the left is a vase-like form of brown glazed woven strips extending from a bowl. Tubes of gathered black ceramic tubes arc from the mouth of the vase, and bubble out to create a sphere and cylindrical cage, woven on the sides with glossy dark brown pinched clay.

Bridged Over

2022

“Double Dutch” is a stoneware sculpture, with two stacked rounded forms structured of basket-like woven strips. The base form is slightly larger, and the top form leans forward. The glaze is off white and amber, with blue drips in places, and a crust of sand-like texture at the crown of the top form.

Double Dutch

2022

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About Anina Major

A headshot of Anina Major with a slight smile wearing a bright yellow blouse in front of greenery. She is a Black woman with medium-dark skin tone and brown and black hair pulled up in braids with ringlets framing her face.

Anina Major is a visual artist from the Bahamas. Her decision to establish a home contrary to the location in which she was born and raised motivates her to investigate the relationship between self and place as a site of negotiation. By utilizing the vernacular of craft to reclaim experiences and relocate displaced objects, her practice exists at the intersection of nostalgia and identity. She holds an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and is the recipient of numerous awards and residencies, including the Socrates Sculpture Park Fellowship, and has served as a mentor for the Saint Heron Ceramics Residency Program. Her work has been exhibited in The Bahamas, across the United States, and in Europe, and is featured in permanent collections that include the National Gallery of The Bahamas; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Rhode Island School of Design Museum; and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Fellowship, 2023

Website / Social Links

“ I started researching a form of weaving called 'plaiting' in The Bahamas as an exercise to understand my own personal genealogy. Every year I witness the few straw objects left by my grandmother deteriorate. My process of making ceramic sculptures inspired by plait weaving reconnects me with aspects of my heritage. Working through the ceramic process provides a beautiful metaphor for feelings of loss and gain.”

Related Journal Entries

Anina Major, a Black woman with medium-dark skin tone and brown and black curly hair, stands in an artist’s studio behind a table holding her ceramic sculptures. On the metal shelves behind her, we see baskets, other ceramic sculptures, and boxes.

In the Studio: Anina Major

"How I dealt with my homesickness was through artwork, by making sculptures that...