“Lauren Mabry’s works capture transformative material forces beyond our control. Her ceramic objects appear fixed in medias res, clarifying materials and objects in transition. The least representational of the works on exhibit in the ICA, Mabry’s works provide pathways for us to imagine the wildness of evolutions outside our ken. Her ceramic forms engage with Modernist histories of abstraction – she notes Helen Frankenthaler and Hans Hoffman as inspirations – as well as transforming the field of ceramics through their painterly focus. A master of glaze techniques, Mabry’s works are constructed with these fluid materials in mind. Each form articulates pathways for color that reinforce clay’s engagement with the earth and its gravitational pull. In Glazescape (Green Shade No.2) (2021), a fluid chromium green surface descends onto two brown supportive posts, suggestive of trunks that aim to hold up a canopy that is melting before our eyes. And melt it does; in Mabry’s Glazescape series, the glazes drip and pool, frozen in a moment of transformation to reveal an intermixing of chemical color that calls to mind a candy factory in high production: bright oranges, pinks, yellows, and chartreuses. A few works, such as Glazescape (Pink No. 4) (2022), gape like open mouths, uncanny glaze forms like garish teeth drip within oval windows. These playful inventions contribute to a viewing experience that is one of pleasurable uncertainty. In Glazescape (Molten Cloud) (2022) a foamed white glaze form rests like fallen stratocumulus clouds at the base of the work. This notation of atmospheric phenomena, at once ethereal referent and marker of our environmentally strained times, is here grounded and abstracted by the mineral world: clay, glaze, heat, and gravity.” - Julie Poitras, Curator, ICA @ MECA&D
Solo Exhibitions
2021 The Degree of Movement, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Winding Way, Plinth Gallery, Denver, CO
2019 Fused, Ferrin Contemporary, North Adams, MA
2017 Alien Fruits, Gaya Ceramic Art & Design Center, Ubud, Bali
2016 Contain or Deliver, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL
Lavender Fields & Pig’s Fat: Work From China, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Lauren Mabry– New Work, Lux Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE
Passages, Belger Crane Yard Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2013 Running, The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE
2012 Lauren Mabry- Cylinders, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
Transcendent Materiality, Eisentrager-Howard Gallery at University of Nebraska- Lincoln, NE
Permanent Collections
The Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Polsinelli Collection, Dallas, TX
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO
Taoxichuan Ceramic Museum, Jingdezhen, China
LH Project Collection, Joseph, OR
The Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE
The Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
Noteworthy Group Exhibitions
2024 50th Anniversary of Arts/Industry, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
2022 This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, The Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
A Fresh Greeting Is Heard, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Main College of Art & Design, Portland, ME
Reminiscing The Now, The Gallery at UTA, University of Texas- Arlighton, Artlington, TX
Plush, Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX
2021 Melting Point, Heller Gallery, New York City, NY
Mutual Affection: The Victoria Schonfeld Collection, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Vessel Invitational: Revisioning the Receptacle, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE
2020 No Dead Artists, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Nature/Nurture, Ferrin Contemporary, North Adams, MA
Tending the Fires: Recent Acquisitions in Clay, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
Form Over Function, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2019 Breaking The Plane, Jane Hartsook Gallery at Greenwich House Pottery, New York City, NY (3 person show)
2018 Unexpected Encounters, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
2017 Venus Fly, Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT (3 person show)
Groundbreaking: Innovations in Clay, Kimball Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT
2016 Recent American Ceramics, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO
Art Miami, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL
Gradations: A Sense of Successive Stages or Degrees, Strohl Art Center at Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY
Chromaphilia/ Chromaphobia, Grand Arts Building curated for Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Resident Artist Collection, Taoxichuan Art Museum, Jingdezhen International Studio, Jingdezhen, China
2014 Art Miami, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL
Superficial, Eutectic Gallery, Portland, OR/ Two person show with Matthew Causey
Harvard: Leslie Ferrin Ceramic Top 40, Harvard University, Boston, MA
Transformations: Raphael Prize Exhibition, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
Flow, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
2013 Heat Wave, Cross Mackenzie Gallery, Washington, D.C.
NCECA 2013 Biennial, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX
2012 Recent Acquisitions to the Archie Bray Permanent Collection, The Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT
2011 Abstract- Kansas City, The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
Awards
2015 Pew Fellowship, Individual Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia, PA
2014 Independence Foundation Grant, Visual Arts Fellowship, Philadelphia, PA
Emerging Artist Award, National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts, USA
Residencies
2024 Kohn Michael Kohler Art Center, 50th Anniversary Invitee, 3 months, Sheboygan, WI
2021 Watershed Center For Ceramic Arts: Invited Artist Session I, New Castle, ME
2017 Gaya Ceramic, two months, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
2015 Jingdezhen International Studio at Taoxichuan, two months, Jingdezhen, China
Mission Clay Products, ongoing project, Phoenix, AZ
2014 LH Project, one month, Joseph, OR
2012 The Clay Studio of Philadelphia, two and a half years, Philadelphia, PA
The Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, three months, Helena, MT
Education
2012 MFA, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
2008 Post Baccalaureate, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
2007 BFA, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
2006 Study Abroad, International Ceramics Studio, Kecskemèt, Hungary