Lauren Blakey

Toronto based artist Lauren Blakey first studied at Sheridan College then completed her undergraduate studies at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Blakey’s ceramic work occupies an interesting ground within the medium. She does not define her work by typical standards of sculpture or functionality. Rather, she finds meaning in the materiality and sensuality of her particular media. She is inspired by the natural world, resulting in a powerful recitation of nature and biology throughout her work. 

“I am seeking to create visual representations that convey the juxtapositions found in our natural world; ideas of growth and decay, strength and fragility.” 

The surfaces of moss, lichens and algae exemplify these concepts in particular, as they are surfaces that have become blemished and worn over time exposing sediment, the past and growth. Blakey’s geologically inspired formations strive to embody a sense of time, so that the pieces themselves, crumbling and in decay, may be perceived to take part in this symbiotic cycle found in nature. Blakey sees her current ceramic work as particularized studies, dug up from the earth or sea. The objects feel like unearthed relics or remains; the surviving traces that speak of our past.