Text by Kyle Croft, Jareh Das. Interview by Rafael Sánchez.
Tender and devotional figures in clay from an ordained minister and self-described testimonial artist
Born and based in Brooklyn, sculptor Reverend Joyce McDonald (born 1951) crafts moving testimonies to themes that have shaped her life: hope, grace and serenity, but also hardship, loss and devotion. As an ordained minister in the Church of the Open Door, spirituality and service are integral to McDonald's life and work. Her work often depicts figures in repose or embrace, embodying the strength, support and unconditional love that has sustained her life. The first museum exhibition devoted to her work, Ministry surveys the McDonald's prolific output since the 1990s, bringing together early works in air-dry clay and found materials with recent glazed ceramics. It presents a nuanced view of McDonald's biography, incorporating archival materials that trace her family and upbringing in Brooklyn's Farragut houses as well as her decades of exhibiting art as a member of Visual AIDS. The catalog features critical essays by Kyle Croft, the exhibition's curator, and Jareh Das, as well as an interview with McDonald conducted by artist Rafael Sánchez.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
New York Magazine: Vulture
Jerry Saltz
What astonishes is not only the life but the way she makes its toll visible. Clay, humble and unglamorous, becomes the vessel of grace
The New Yorker
Jillian Steinhauer
McDonald’s themes are universal, but each of her sculptures is vivid and specific, as if she were summoning souls from within mounds of clay. That perception is enhanced by the works’ material details, as she incorporates elements such as costume pearls and paper towels.
Hyperallergic
Alexandra M. Thomas
McDonald describes herself as a 'testimonial artist,' someone who bears witness and represents the sacred as she and her community experience it. Through her primary medium, she captures moments of care and kinship that channel the deep bonds that Black people share with the divine and each other.
The Wall Street Journal
Brian P. Kelly
'Ministry' is a testament to the power art has to heal, not just emotionally but spiritually.
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“When I first handled clay … I can’t explain it. It might have felt like someone who was holding their baby for the first time. Immediately, something happened to me. I don’t know why I’m making what I’m making … I have no clue. I don’t know what it’s going to be.” So said the sculptor, activist and Church of the Open Door minister Reverend Joyce McDonald in 2024. A former performer and addict who tested positive for H.I.V. in 1995, the Reverend Joyce McDonald now counsels women in prison and shelters, while exposing and unearthing her own traumas and triumphs in clay. Her work is the subject of a major exhibition at the Bronx Museum, on view through January 11, 2026. Pictured here, one of several figures titled Halleluya Ladies (1998). continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 7.5 x 9.5 in. / 112 pgs / 109 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $35.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $53 GBP £28.00 ISBN: 9781732641587 PUBLISHER: Visual AIDS AVAILABLE: 12/9/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Visual AIDS. Text by Kyle Croft, Jareh Das. Interview by Rafael Sánchez.
Tender and devotional figures in clay from an ordained minister and self-described testimonial artist
Born and based in Brooklyn, sculptor Reverend Joyce McDonald (born 1951) crafts moving testimonies to themes that have shaped her life: hope, grace and serenity, but also hardship, loss and devotion. As an ordained minister in the Church of the Open Door, spirituality and service are integral to McDonald's life and work. Her work often depicts figures in repose or embrace, embodying the strength, support and unconditional love that has sustained her life.
The first museum exhibition devoted to her work, Ministry surveys the McDonald's prolific output since the 1990s, bringing together early works in air-dry clay and found materials with recent glazed ceramics. It presents a nuanced view of McDonald's biography, incorporating archival materials that trace her family and upbringing in Brooklyn's Farragut houses as well as her decades of exhibiting art as a member of Visual AIDS. The catalog features critical essays by Kyle Croft, the exhibition's curator, and Jareh Das, as well as an interview with McDonald conducted by artist Rafael Sánchez.
