Lauren Sandler

Artist Statement

My work examines the myriad chronicles told by objects. Relics carry a legacy of dismantling and reconstruction, and archive cultural evidence as recollections entwine with present moments. I develop work where visceral and structural meet, a shared intersection of body, culture, and history with the mundane as monumental. In this mutable space I investigate power and perspective; deconstruct mythologies, and decenter dominant frameworks. Through fragmented forms, allegoric containers, and quotidian assemblages, I explore stories erased, distorted, and rewritten. With discursive vessels and tableau, I create parables that conjure the individual and collective body, and the means to shift representation and perspective. Through conjoined artifacts and archetypal pots, I investigate places of collision, struggles at the precipice where oppositional elements converge. My work investigates conflicting narratives distributed when distinct shapes combine in one form.

-- Lauren Sandler

Bio

Lauren Sandler is a ceramic artist and educator whose work deconstructs mythologies and investigates narratives of power and perspective. Her practice amplifies interdependence, highlights stories obfuscated or erased, and implicates our assumptions of normal and worth. Sandler exhibits nationally, as well as lectures and publishes concerning contemporary and historic issues in ceramics. She holds an MFA in Ceramics from Penn State University, and undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and Ceramics from Ithaca College and SUNY New Paltz. She is Assistant Professor and Program Head of Ceramics at Tyler School of Art and Architecture and currently serves on the Board of The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts as Director at Large.