Stacey Johnson Hardy ( b.1969) is a visual artist working primarily in clay. Her work is influenced by life in the Mississippi Delta, New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast, places rich in a myriad of cultures. Her figurative work embraces this gumbo of flamboyance, color, soulfulness, and storytelling. Hardy primarily works in red, gritty clay, which she discovered in her youth, dug from the earth. Working with this particular medium is both familiar and purposeful, serving as a beautiful surface upon which to build layers of color. She has an interest in diverse figure study without gender or race, and often thinks of pieces as self portraits. Gestural figures are adorned with layered, painterly surfaces filled with mark making, in essence creating an evolving cartography honoring constellations, plant and ocean life, and destinations. Hardy holds a BFA from Loyola University and an MFA from the University of Georgia. She is the recipient of multiple fellowships and awards, including the honor of 2020 Visual Artist award from The Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. Recent residencies include Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity and Penland School of Craft.