WaveMaker Grantee: Lauren Shapiro
Written by Locust Projects and Lauren Shapiro. All images courtesy of the artist.
Interview with the Artist
Tell us about your WaveMaker project:
“Temporary Terrains,” is an ephemeral clay installation and social practice project. I had the opportunity to form a partnership with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, one of my favorite places to visit in Miami. Because of the Wavemaker Grant, I had special access to this beautifully curated landscape and collaborated with the education department. I visited with field biologists from the Scientific Village Community on site who specialize in conservation ecology. I wanted to learn more about the impacts of sea level rise on plant communities of south Florida, restoration ecology, field botany, rare plants and their habitats. These scientists helped me to identify and understand the species of plants and their connection to the systems in which they thrive.
I then collected samples and cast imprints of the flora in silica-free silicone to use as the molds for my installation. Through a series of collaborative workshops for students and the general public, members of the community could participate in my project by modeling the clay into the molds of plants and adding them to a large post and lintel structure over the entrance doors to the Garden.
The artwork was assembled during the Ramble Garden festival which took place over the course of a weekend in November, where the structure was totally wrapped in the unfired clay textures of leaves, roots, bark and flowers. It was subsequently destroyed and the clay was recycled with water one week later, to be used for another installation. Through these ephemeral compositions, it is my hope to cultivate in others a love of clay, to inspire environmental stewardship and to serve as a reminder of the fragile and finite existence of our society's current relationship to its ecosystems.
What was the easiest aspect of this project? What was the most challenging? Did you learn something new? What do you wish you had done different? What went perfectly?
My project would not have happened without Wavemaker Grant funding and the support of Locust Projects. Fairchild was an ideal partnership because there is an opportunity for contemporary, botanic-inspired art and programming at the Garden. Working with the education department to implement the workshops was the best part. The volunteers and the highschool interns were so eager to get their hands in clay and become part of my project. The scientists and faculty of the garden were excited to see the final result. Friends and other artists in the community showed up to help build the installation. The only modification was the placement of the artwork. It culminated as a post and lintel system over the entrance rather than around one of the columns inside of the gift shop, as initially planned. This was an adjustment I made in order to provide the greatest public accessibility and for the best visual impact. I am grateful to the institution for their trust and allowing me to do something so experimental at the entrance to the garden.
Tell us what you're most excited about as a result of this project? Has it inspired a new work, collaborations, direction? Has it brought new opportunities for expanding it through other grants or exhibitions? What, where and when? Tell us more…
As a result of my partnership with the Garden thanks to the Wavemaker, I was awarded a matching grant for a new art project through the Knight Arts Challenge Award this year. “Molding the Future” is a community-engaged public artwork made of fired ceramic tiles to be put on display at Fairchild. This tile mural will be partially created through a series of workshops with Miami Dade Public county school teachers and students. The overarching goal of the project’s social component is to promote inclusivity and access for underserved populations to an important local botanical landmark while learning about the ceramic arts. I’m so excited for this opportunity to create a large-scale public artwork that will incorporate plants and ceramic tiles in a beautiful and tropical outdoor space.
In one sentence - what one thing about doing this project will stay with you?
I learned that collaboration and exchange between artists and scientists, as well as thinking outside of the box to form partnerships with institutions with whom you share a similar mission, can be very impactful!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lauren Shapiro is a visual artist and educator living in Miami, Florida in the United States. She earned an M.F.A. from the University of Miami and is a Visual arts faculty member at several institutions in South Florida. She has developed a multi-step casting process in clay resulting in modular sculptures and installations which reference systems and visual orders found in nature. Her work draws inspiration from environmental research and data, ceramics and social practice.
Shapiro has been a resident artist at the Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute at Jingdezhen, China, where she observed and learned about post-production processes of industrial mold making and porcelain slip casting. She has exhibited during Art Basel Miami at Scope Art fair, the New Art Dealer’s Alliance (NADA) and she has showcased her work internationally during Art Basel Switzerland at Projektraum M54, and a recent solo exhibition debuted in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She completed a residency in the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil, collecting textures for her ecologically driven sculptures and installations. This year, she was awarded a Challenge Grant through the Knight Foundation for a project which will culminate at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami. Lauren is a current artist in residence at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami in addition to serving as Head of the Ceramics Studio.
WATCH: Learn more about Lauren Shapiro’s WaveMaker Grants Project
Lauren Shapiro received a Cycle 5 WaveMaker Grant in 2019. Since 2015, WaveMaker Grants have awarded $399,000 in grants to 77 Miami’s most visionary artists, collectives, and curators.
WaveMaker Grants at Locust Projects is made possible by support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and is part of the Warhol Foundation's Regional Regranting Program. Part of a national network of Warhol-initiated regranting programs, WaveMaker Grants is the first in the southeast. For more information about the Warhol Foundation's Regional Regranting Program, please click here.