Wood Fired Mug, 2023, Porcelain, Wood fired and Reduction-Cooled, NFS
Lauren Rouatt takes a process-oriented approach to making work - currently primarily ceramics - crafting vessels that are simultaneously works of art and that bring us into conversation with her ongoing inquiries into the natural world. She is interested in growth, decay, branching, cycles, and metamorphosis, as well as the textures and shapes that emerge when we look at the world both up close and from a distance. Lauren is enamored with the wood firing process in particular: feeling a deeper connection to the geologic cycles and the alchemy of elements that transform stone into clay, and clay into cup. Lauren is currently the Managing Director of the New Orleans community studio Byrdie's Pottery. She holds a Master of Art Education from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BFA from Tulane University. Lauren has worked as an educator and teaching artist at numerous places, including NOLA Nature School, The New Orleans Museum of Art, The Louisiana Children's Museum, Longue Vue House and Gardens, The Contemporary Arts Center, Community Works, and The Green Project.