Public Lecture: Julia Kunin

Join Cranbrook Academy of Art at deSalle Auditorium for a free, public lecture with Julia Kunin on Thursday, March 5, 2026, at 6pm.

Julia Kunin lives in Brooklyn, NY, and works frequently in Hungary. She earned a BA from Wellesley College and an MFA from The Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.  Her work explores themes of queerness, feminism, and the body.  Her ceramic sculptures reference Hungarian ceramics made at the Zsolnay factory both during the Art Nouveau period and during the socialist era.

Solo exhibitions include: Laughing Castles at Klaus Von Nichtssagend gallery, NY, NY, Dream Machines at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL, Rainbow Dream Machine at McClain Gallery, Houston, TX (2020 -2021); Mechanical Ballet at Kate Werble Gallery, NY, NY (2021); Les Guerilleres Sandra Gering Gallery, NY, NY (2015); Golden Grove, Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas, TX (2013); Nightwood, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, NY, NY (2012); Against Nature, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery (2007); Crimson Blossom Deutches Leder Museum, Offenbach, Germany (2002).

Recent two-person exhibitions: Kaleidoscope Eyes with Mara Held, at McClain Gallery in Houston, TX (2023); Wild Chambers with Yevgeniya Baras, at Mother Gallery, NY, NY (2022). Recent group exhibitions include: Painting Deconstructed, Ortega Y Gasset projects, Brooklyn, NY (2024);  I’ll Be Your Mirror, Queer Biennial, Detroit, MI (2024); Getting to Ick, Hesse Flatow Gallery, NY, NY; Behind this Mask, Another Mask curated by Sam Adams at Abigail Ogilvey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Queer Clay at AMOCA, LA, (2023); Conversing in Clay, at LACMA, Los Angeles, CA.

Kunin was a Fulbright Scholar to Hungary in 2013. She has received numberous awards including a Trust for Mutual Understanding grant to Hungary, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a residency at Art Omi, and the John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry Artist Residency. Fellowships include: The MacDowell Colony, The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, CEC Artslink grant to The Republic of Georgia, Artist Residency in Wiesbaden, Germany, Yaddo,  The Millay Colony, Vermont Studio Center, The Core Program in Houston, TX,  and Skowhegan.

Julia Kunin currently has a series of ceramic lamps at Ralph Pucci International and he is also a member of the board of FIAR, The LGBTQ Fire Island artist residency. Her work was recently acquired by the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA, and by The Museum of Art and Design, in New York, NY. Her work was reviewed by Roberta Smith in the New York Times, October 2022, Yevgeniya Baras and Julia Kunin at Mother Gallery.

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