Lauren Mabry is one of the most prominent contemporary artists specializing in creating ceramics. This field appears to be less prominent than painting among the mainstream arts. However, ceramics is, perhaps, the most understandable form of contemporary art when it comes to the ordinary viewer. Examples come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, require various color decisions, and give rise to a whole spectrum of ideas from functionality to pure expressionism. Even though Lauren Mabry is constantly creating new works, which are always unique and memorable, she tries to pass on her mastery by giving lectures and workshops on a regular basis.
Lauren Mabry is originally from Madison, Wisconsin. She has always been passionate specifically about ceramics. That is why her latter education began in Kansas City Art Institute. Lauren had attended the Ceramics Department, which she successfully attended in 2007. Two years later Mabry started a master program in ceramics offered by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her academic achievements are supported by numerous fellowships and awards which she has received during her studies, in addition to which the artist also has considerable experience abroad. In 2006 she spent some time working for the International Ceramics Studio in Hungary. At the moment she lives in Philadelphia and has a website (Mabry 1) that provides information about her artworks and a brief summary of her achievements.
Mabry’s works are an example of laconism combined with a virtuous use of color. The artist has chosen cylinders as the main shape for her art. Single pieces and compositions make a base of her collection. Even though this form is incredibly simple, Mabry manages to make every crafted piece eye-catching by applying a mixture of various colors. It can be noticed that the artist leans more towards pastel shades. Her website provides pictures of her art, which is dominated by pink, blue, and terracotta. Mabry’s work is “very process oriented” (Lauren Mabry: Passages, 1), meaning that she uses improvisation and focuses on the work itself rather than on the final result. Her cylinders can fit in any setting, from a private home to a grand public space. Such a versatile feature is similar to all her works. Mabry manages to combine such a multitude of colors on one ceramic, and still retain its simplicity, that it is almost impossible to compare her art to that of others.
As the artist confesses on her web page, she never knows how colors will look after they undergo temperature treatment. However, the result is always brilliant. The shapes she creates for her ceramics are complemented by masterful brushstrokes. By no means all of Mabry’s collection is focused on cylinders. A cluster of works is presented by the so-called walls. Ceramic squares and rectangles also come in various colors similar to her other art. Regarding interior design, they can easily be used as pictures on walls. Moreover, the painting of this collection is an excellent example of modern art. This effect on glazed ceramics cannot be reached by any other type of art method.
Suffice to say, viewers react to Lauren Mabry’s ceramics with admiration. She is a recipient of several awards. Her personal website states that she was granted a Junior’s Award in 2012 and Merit Award in 2014. The 2014 year has, indeed, been very successful for Mabry, as she received the Emerging Artist Award and the Independence Foundation grant. All of these awards demonstrate that the art community is interested in the artist’s ceramics, which are recognized all over the country.
As a result of this popularity, Lauren Mabry has already had several exhibitions of her own. Starting from 2012, she has already had five of them. The last one is called “Lavender Fields & Pig’s Fat: Work From China”. This exhibition was a result of Lauren’s trip to China, where she gained experience and accumulated inspiration in one of the oldest Chinese places famous for its pottery. Of course, Mabry’s ceramics have also been a part of various group exhibitions. In 2016 she participated in four of them, two of which took place in Kansas, the city where she gained her initial knowledge of ceramics. In fact, Mabry’s ceramics are so popular in Kansas, that the local museum in Sedalia has purchased one of her works for their permanent collection.
Lauren Mabry is not focused solely on work. She spends some of her time giving lectures to students of various art universities and colleges. This year she works as a visiting professor at Ohio State University. Mabry’s experience in working with ceramics will help her impart very useful information to students of the Department of Arts. The artist also has three years of experience holding workshops.
Analyzing the input which Lauren Mabry has made in the ceramics art industry, there arises the undoubted fact that she creates extraordinary art pieces and, what is more important, she teaches others how to create them. Ceramics is a complicated matter since artists rarely know what the final work will look like. Nevertheless, Mabry always manages to make every piece unique and still look like a part of a single family.
Works CitedReferences
Mabry, Lauren. “Resume.” Lauren Mabry, Web.
“Lauren Mabry: Passages.”Ceramics Department. 2015, The Kansas City Art Institute, Web.