The Bronx Museum

Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald

PAGE CONTENTS:

Top Image: Reverend Joyce McDonald, Covered with Love, 2003, Acrylic and fabric on air-dry clay, 7 ½ × 6 ½ × 5 ½ inches, Collection of Michael Sherman and Carrie Tivador

Sep 5, 2025 - Jan 11, 2026

EXHIBITION INFO & IMAGES

ON VIEW: September 5, 2025 – January 11, 2026

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Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Reverend Joyce McDonald, 'Golden Tears,' 2021. Glazed ceramic, adhesive and acrylic, 6 x 6 x 4 in., Collection of Lonti Ebers, New York. Photo by Ryan Page.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Reverend Joyce McDonald, 'Relaxed in Rest,' 2000. Terracotta air dry clay, acrylic house paint, paper towel, Mod Podge, acrylic varnish, 4 x 10 ¼ x 5 ½ in. Courtesy of Gordon Robichaux, New York, and Maureen Paley, London. Photo by Greg Carideo.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Reverend Joyce McDonald, 'Beauty and the Peace,' 2021, Air dry clay, glitter, false eyelashes, adhesive, surgical mask, earrings, 6 ½ x 7 x 5 ½ in. Courtesy of Gordon Robichaux, New York, and Maureen Paley, London. Photo by Ryan Page.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Reverend Joyce McDonald, 'Glory (A Taste of Sweetness after Near Death),' 2001, Acrylic, Wite-Out, and paper towel on air-dry clay, 10 × 6 × 4 ½ inches, Collection of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg. Photo by Greg Carideo.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Reverend Joyce McDonald, 'Mother’s Prayers,' 1999. Acrylic, paper towel, glitter, fabric paint, and varnish on air-dry clay, 12 × 6 × 6 in. Courtesy of Gordon Robichaux, New York, and Maureen Paley, London. Photo by Ryan Page.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Installation view of 'Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald' at The Bronx Museum. Photo by Argenis Apolinario, 2025.
Reverend Joyce McDonald, 'My Dad, My Hero (Willie McDonald),' 1998, House paint, Mod Podge on air-dry clay, and artist’s father’s shirt and camera, 13 × 11 ½ × 12 inches, Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody. Photo by Greg Carideo.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Through sculpture, Reverend Joyce McDonald crafts moving testimonies to themes that have shaped her life: hope, grace, and serenity, but also hardship, loss, and devotion. Her work often depicts figures in repose or embrace, embodying the strength, support, and unconditional love that have sustained her life.

McDonald began working with clay in 1997 through an art therapy program, shortly after her diagnosis with HIV. She quickly recognized the medium’s potential for healing and transformation. Working intuitively, she allows figures to emerge from the clay, giving form to memories and emotion while processing experiences of addiction, domestic violence, and illness.

An ordained minister, spirituality and service are integral to McDonald’s life and work.

She understands her art as an extension of her ministry, a channel for divinity, compassion, and healing. A self-described testimonial artist, McDonald is open about sharing her own story—“from the shooting gallery to the art gallery”—through her artwork to inspire confidence and dignity in others.

Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald is the first museum exhibition devoted to the artist’s work, bringing together her early sculptures in air-dry clay and found materials with recent glazed ceramics. Inspired by McDonald’s history of repurposing stairs and furniture into display surfaces, her sculptures are presented on stepped pedestals designed by Le Xie. Archival materials provide a nuanced portrait of McDonald’s biography, tracing her upbringing in Brooklyn’s Farragut houses as well as her decades of exhibiting art as an artist member of Visual AIDS.

Exhibition Catalogue

Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald is accompanied by a fully illustrated 112-page hardcover catalogue published by Visual AIDS in collaboration with The Bronx Museum. It is the first book dedicated to the sculptural practice of Reverend Joyce McDonald.

The catalogue features essays by the exhibition’s Curator, Kyle Croft, Executive Director of Visual AIDS, and Dr. Jareh Das, alongside a conversation between McDonald and fellow artist Rafael Sánchez.

You can purchase copies of the catalogue in person from The Bronx Museum’s gift shop or online from Visual AIDS.

Major support for the catalogue is provided by Girlfriend Fund and SJ Weiler Fund.

Exhibition Events

Exhibition Opening

Friday, September 5, 2025
6:00 – 8:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Optional RSVP
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Exhibition Opening Celebration — Ministry: Reverend Joyce McDonald

Family Time: Art-Making Inspired by 'Ministry'

Saturday, September 13, 2025
1:00 – 3:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Drop In
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Family Time September 2025: Art-Making for All Ages

First Friday: Art, Poetry, & Music

Friday, October 3, 2025
6:00 – 8:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Optional RSVP
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Artist-Led Exhibition Tour

Saturday, October 4, 2025
1:00 – 3:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! RSVP Required
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Family Time: Sculpture-Making with Reverend Joyce McDonald

Saturday, October 18, 2025
1:00 – 3:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Drop In
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Family Time October 2025 With Reverend Joyce McDonald

Día de Muertos

Saturday, November 1, 2025
1:00 – 3:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Drop In
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'Ministry' Panel Discussion

Saturday, November 1, 2025
3:00 – 5:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Optional RSVP
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First Friday: With DJ BlkShine & HeadCount

Friday, November 7, 2025
6:00 – 8:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Optional RSVP
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Family Day: Art-Making Inspired by 'Ministry'

Saturday, November 15, 2025
1:00 – 4:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Optional RSVP
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Family Day: Winter Wonderland

Saturday, December 6, 2025
1:00 – 4:00 PM
For All Ages
Free! Optional RSVP
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First Friday: Art, Music, & More!

Friday, January 9, 2026
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Free! Optional RSVP
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First Friday January 2026: Art, Music, & More!

Family Time: Art-Making Inspired by 'Ministry'

Saturday, January 10, 2026
1:00 – 3:00 PM
Free! Drop-In
LEARN MORE>>

Family Time January 2026: Art-Making for All Ages

Reverend Joyce McDonald Biography

Reverend Joyce McDonald was born in 1951 in Brooklyn, New York, where she continues to live and work. As a teenager, she performed at the Apollo Theater in the girl group The Primettes. After her HIV diagnosis in 1995 and a long battle with addiction, McDonald was ordained as a minister at the Church of the Open Door in 2009.

A lifelong creative, McDonald was introduced to sculpture in the late 1990s through an art therapy program at the Jewish Board of Family Services. She was soon connected to Visual AIDS, where she has become a core member of a community of artists living with HIV. McDonald has exhibited her work extensively with Visual AIDS, the Jewish Board, and her church for more than twenty years.

Her work as an activist and advocate includes founding an HIV awareness and creative arts group for young girls and teens, working with women in shelters and hospitals, writing letters to incarcerated women, coordinating her church’s AIDS ministry, and serving as assistant director of its children’s choir. McDonald is the proud mother of two daughters and has two sons-in-law, eleven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

McDonald has presented solo exhibitions at Gordon Robichaux, New York, in 2024 and 2021, and at Maureen Paley, London, in 2023, which was profiled in The Guardian, The Art Newspaper, and Artforum. Her work is held in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Brooklyn Museum, New York; and the Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.