Loren Vladem

My ceramic practice captures an intimate connection to nature through textural surface and space. These pieces represent abstracted landscapes, snippets of the natural world through the blended lenses of imagination and memory. I transform elements of landscape such as bark, fungi, moss, ocean life, and sedimentary rock on both macro and microscopic scales into ceramic sculptures. The intricate surface on my pieces are a meditation on nature––a way to show my appreciation and reverence for every frond, crag, and petal. For example, my recent sculptures are organic, three-dimensional, molecular-like structures dripping with texture. Pieces are fragmented and hung on the wall like islands on a map, or stand upright like monoliths, representing our singular world. Nature is transient and changeable, just like earthen clay, and like us. My work represents the desire to defy transience and freeze a moment in time––one full of vibrancy and life in connection to nature. It is also a plea to treasure and protect our living environment. I want us to consider taking time not only to appreciate nature, but to pause and immerse ourselves in gratitude for our surroundings.