Artist Statement

Through patterns, repetition, and symbols, we understand our identity and position in the world around us. My work pursues a balance between recurring tensions of positive and negative forces, drawing on historical principles of architecture and engineering to convey fluidity and incongruity. I play with design and material to explore issues of identity expression: the singular voice vs. the whole, feelings of otherness, and balance of self presentation in social constructs. Currently, my work explores identity, focusing on dynamic and interactive installations and the balancing act of playful objects. I am interested in how formal line work, mark-making, light, and video projection interact with glass to create active surface tension.
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Bio

Lauren grew up in Las Vegas and she took an early interest in glass when she broke a piece of her grandmother's chandelier as a child. Lauren was sent to wander the hallways of chandelier stores while in the pre-internet age, weeks were spent trying to contact a factory in Murano who could remake the amber, bubbled shade Lauren had broken. A love of light and glass were born. Ten years later, as a freshman at UC San Diego, Lauren enrolled in a glassblowing class at the Crafts Center. She excelled within the family environment and tutelage of instructors Ron Carlson, Clay Logan, Buzz Blodgett, Kathleen Mitchell and Patty Yockey. After seven years at the Crafts Center, Lauren moved to San Francisco, where she led the production crew at Weinstein Studios to weave 61,000 tubes for an permanent installation at the Courtyard Sha Tin, Hong Kong. She learned the intricacies of chandelier construction and wiring through her role as crew leader of Fox Chandelier Cleaning in San Francisco. She works seasonally on summer support staff at Pilchuck Glass School, in Washington. In 2016 Lauren moved to Seattle to work within the glass community. Lauren is an LGBT artist and has lived within and alongside the queer communities of Hillcrest, San Diego, the Castro, San Francisco, and Capitol Hill, Seattle. 

Professional Experience

Hot Shop Coordinator, Pilchuck Glass School, 2018
​Assistant, Asp & Hand, 2018
Glassblower, Glassybaby Berkeley and Madrona, 2016-present
Artist's Assistant, Nancy Callan, 2016-present
Hot Shop Assistant, summer staff, Pilchuck Glass School, 2015-2018
Artist's Assistant, Topher Delaney Studios, 2015
Kitchen Assistant, summer staff, Pilchuck Glass School, 2014-2016
Crew Lead, Fox Chandelier Cleaning, 2013-2016
Production Lead, Studio Assistant, Nikolas Weinstein Studios, 2012
Teaching Assistant to Kathleen Mitchell, beginning glass blowing, UCSD Crafts Center, 2007-2011
Teaching Assistant to Clay Logan, intermediate glass blowing, cane pull workshops, 2009-2011
Shop Technician, UCSD Crafts Center, 2010-2011

Scholarships and Awards

Chateau Ste. Michelle scholarship recipient in Composizione Completo with Muzylowski Allen, Salvadore, Ferros, 
Pilchuck Glass School, 2016
Celebrity Cruise scholarship recipient in Point.Line.Plane with Mel Douglas, Corning Museum of Glass, 2016

Work published in 

Spoke light chandelier covered in notcot,org, designthatsticks.com, design42day.com, beforeitsnews.com, designerhk,com, alexanderchalkidis.com, superfigo.eu, #fnews.com  2015
San Diego City Beat, 2011

Cane pull at Pilchuck, Image courtesy of Jay Galbreath, 2014

Photo by Alec Miller, Image courtesy of Pilchuck Glass School, 2016

Image Courtesy of Pilchuck Glass School, 2016