Grassi’s contemplative abstractions evoke shifting impressions of water and clouds while eluding definitive reference points. Fascinated by the qualities of water, she mimics the effects of erosion to reveal multilayered surfaces alive with marks. Paint is applied in thick and thin layers, then carved, wiped, and cut back to expose a history of transformation.
A graduate of certificate program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), Grassi is a faculty critic in PAFA’s post-baccalaureate and MFA programs. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, a Works on Paper Fellowship from the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ireland, and a Residency Award from the Fundación Valparaíso in Mojácar, Spain. She has presented more than twenty solo exhibitions in Philadelphia and New York, as well as at the Pensacola Museum of Art in Florida and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Palmer Museum of Art at Pennsylvania State University, PAFA, and Woodmere.
