Lauren Fensterstock
With so much turmoil on the ground, I’ve turned my eyes to the sky for wisdom. Moody storms. Ominous comets. Dying stars. These fleeting events are a historically rich subject for the projection of human anxiety, hopes, and fears. I build sculptures and installations that explore the narratives we develop to find meaning in nature, and the landscapes we fabricate to situate ourselves in the world. The interwoven political, personal, and environmental crises gripping this moment reveal our need to look beyond a human-centered reality for meaningful context. The highly decorative surfaces of these artworks highlight the beauty of a world that may at times be indifferent to us but is nonetheless magnificent in its complexity. The cumulative processes associated with historical ladies’ crafts – such as mosaics, shellworking, and papercutting- highlight the tension between small parts and a whole. Making these constructions is the act of taking disparate pieces and uniting them into something new and holistic.
Gravitational Collapse
Gravitational Collapse (detail)
When a Fourth Sun
When a Fourth Sun (detail)
Obsidian Grotto
Obsidian Grotto (detail)
Obsidian Grotto (detail)
When a Second Sun
When a Second Sun (detail)
Scrying 2
When a Fifth Sun
When a Fifth Sun (detail)
When a Sixth Sun
When a Sixth Sun (detail)
When a Third Sun
When a Third Sun (detail)
When a Seventh Sun
The Order of Things (installation view)
The Order Of Things (center object)
The Order Of Things (left object)
Scrying #8
Scrying #8
Holophusicon
Reflecting Pool
Midden
Srying (Hand Mirror 2)
Scrying: Volta NY 2017
Scrying (Hand Mirror 2)
Scrying (Vanity Mirror)
Ritual and Desire (installation view)
Celebration of Formal Effects, Whether Natural or Artificial
Mirror Displacement
Lauren Fensterstock: Impermanent Conditions
June 12, 2021 to August 14, 2021
Claire Oliver Gallery
View exhibit press release (pdf)
“With so much turmoil on the ground, I've turned my eyes to the sky for wisdom. Moody storms. Ominous comets. Dying stars” states Fensterstock. “Weather events and celestial sightings are a historically rich location for the projection of human anxiety, hopes, and fears. Mosaics highlight the tension between small parts and a whole.
Suspect Realities @ Seattle Art Fair 2018
August 2, 2018 to August 5, 2018
CenturyLink Field Event Center, Seattle WA
View exhibit press release (pdf)
It has become increasingly difficult to discern fact from fiction. Voyeurism is in, yet can we believe what we see? In today’s digitized, Instagram world, nothing is sure; one always must distrust. Photoshop naturalizes the false. Any image can be manipulated, cropped, retouched, enhanced, any sound altered, any voice “Auto-Tuned” until no authenticity remains. Reality T.V. is artifice with predictable narrative, directed and scripted dialogue, and post-production editing that seamlessly delivers emotional attachment and pleasure in between strategically placed commercial breaks. In “CelebReality” everyone can vicariously share Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame not so readily found in our work a day lives.
Lauren Fensterstock, Holophusicon
March 18, 2017 to June 18, 2017
MOCA Jacksonville
View exhibit press release (pdf)
Fensterstock transforms the Atrium Gallery at MoCA Jacksonville into a cabinet of curiosity that expands her interest in natural history and personal collections, principally Holophusicon, an eighteenth-century natural history and ethnographical museum in London, and American artist Robert Smithson's Mirror with Crushed Shells, created during an exploration on the beaches of Sanibel, Florida. Inspired by one quirky collection and a conceptual artwork, Fensterstock will collect shells in her native Maine and Sanibel Island to produce large ornamental cabinets as well as loose, organic stalactites to pepper the wall. At times described as grottos, at others cabinets of curiosities, the physical black elements merge disparate parts into a single organism.
VOLTA NY 2017
March 1, 2017 to March 5, 2017
NYC Pier 90
View exhibit press release (pdf)
The installation is comprised of a large cabinet on the west wall of the stand, housing a series of handheld black glass objects that, when held up as a mirror, reflect an unnaturally large human in relation to the world around him. A series of rubber, glass and chrome wall pieces reflect and refract with black mouthblown glass mirrors. Viewed through today’s lens of “selfie culture”, we see man’s continued struggle to hold dominance over nature and the natural world. Ultimately, mirrors provide a space for the viewer’s own interpretation. Scrying will offer the visitor an opportunity to examine the cultural precedents that influence and shape our current worldviews; Fensterstock presents an opportunity to look out, beyond, and within.
Lauren Fensterstock: Scrying
July 11, 2019 to August 31, 2019
Claire Oliver Gallery
View exhibit press release (pdf)
Scrying, a solo exhibition of new mixed media sculpture by Lauren Fensterstock. The artist's newest works combine chromed and rubberized shell work with mouth blown and cold worked glass, conceptually questioning the current "selfie" obsession and a possible link between this and past social obsessions.
Lauren Fensterstock: The Order of Things
April 14, 2016 to May 22, 2016
Claire Oliver Gallery
View exhibit press release (pdf)
With a similar faculty as Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, seen as a personal dialogue between an individual and nature, Fensterstock reminds us we must take heed of the global forces impacting our environment. The Order of Things is not a map that paints the world as a whole, but one that seeks discovery in glints and crumbles; in contrast to Smithson, Fensterstock’s work intentionally avoids grand narratives in favor of the fractious, the illogical, and the contradictory. The Order of Things uses theatrical means to create a hybrid natural/unnatural space using the continued potency of nature as a cultural metaphor.
Public Collections:
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL
- Portland Museum of Art, Portland ME
- Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
- Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN
- Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA
- Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Bushwick ME
- The Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
- Wheaton College, Norton, MA
- Maine General Medical Center, Agusta ME
- Ogunquit Museum of Art, Ogunquit ME
- Fidelity Investments
- Tiffany & Co, Kuwait City, Kuwait
- Tiffany & Co, Prague, Czech Republic
- Tiffany & Co, Apkujong, South Korea
- Tiffany & Co, Daegu, South Korea
- Tiffany & Co, New York, New York
- University of Maine Museum of Art, Orono ME
Solo Exhibitions:
- New York, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY, 2019
- Lauren Fensterstock: Portal, Lupin Foundation Gallery, University of Georgia, 2019
- Holophusicon, MOCA Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL, 2017
- Scrying, VOLTA NY, solo presentation with Claire Oliver Gallery, NY, 2017
- The Order of Things, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY, 2016
- Forays and Follies, Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 2015
- New York, Lauren Fensterstock, Independent Art Projects, North Adams, MA, 2014
- Preparatory Drawings, Aucocisco, Portland, ME, 2014
- Lauren Fensterstock, Sienna Patti Contemporary, Lenox, MA, 2013
- The Celebration of Formal Effects, Weather Natural or Artificial, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI 2013
- Incidents of Garden Displacement, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME, 2011
- Mound, Sienna Patti Contemporary, Lenox, MA, 2010
- Of Groves, Labyrinths, Dedals, Cabinets, Cradles, Close-walks, Galleries, Pavilions, Portico’s, Lanterns and other Relievo’s of Topiary and Hortulan Architecture, Walker Contemporary, Boston, MA, 2010
- New Projects, Washington Art Association, Washington Depot, CT, 2009
- Parterre, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME, 2008
Two Person Exhibitions:
- Renwick Invitational, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, 2020
- Nature in Art, MOCAK, Krakow, Poland, 2019
- Ritual and Desire, Wichita Art Museum, KS, 2017
- Seattle Art Fair, Claire Oliver Gallery, 2016
- Theories of the Earth: Lauren Fensterstock and Beth Lipman, Beard and Weil Galleries, Wheaton College, Norton, MA, 2016
- Two Takes: One Space, Lauren Fensterstock and Steve Wiman, The Contemporary Austin, Austin, TX, 2011
- Lauren Fensterstock and John Bisbee, Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, ME, 2011
Group Exhibitions:
- A Dark Place of Dreams, The Gibbs Museum of Art, Charleston, SC, 2018-19
- Seattle Art Fair, Claire Oliver Gallery, 2018
- The Bleak and the Burgeoning, Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville, AK, 2018
- Natural Wonders, Brandywine Museum, Chadds Ford, PA, 2018
- A Dark Place of Dreams, MOCA Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL, 2018
- Dark and Stormy Night: The Gothic in Contemporary Art, Lehman Gallery, Bronx, NY, 2017
- Ruptures, Des Moines Art Center, IA, 2017
- Deep Cuts, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester NH, 2016
- Sisters of the Moon, Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts, Louisville, KY, 2016
- Paper Biennale, Museum Rijswijk, Rijswijk, Netherlands, 2016
- Director’s Cut, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, 2015
- Recurrence, Friedman Gallery, New York, NY, 2014
- Surface, Stephen D. Paine Gallery at Mass Art, Boston, MA, 2014
- Piecework, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, 2013
- DUBH: Dialogues in Black, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 2012
- Maine Biennale, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME, 2012
- Maine Women Pioneers, UNE Gallery at the University of New England, Portland, ME, 2012
- DUBH: Dialogues in Black, American Irish Historical Society, New York, NY, 2011
- Buds, Blooms & Berries: Plants in Science, Culture & Art, Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA, 2011
- Field of Vision: Artists Explore Place, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI, 2011
- Sacred and Profane, Portsmouth Museum of Fine Art, Portsmouth, NH, 2010
- The Thinking Body, Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA, 2008
- The Thinking Body, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR, 2008
- New Natural History, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, 2008
- In Situ, Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery, Mass Art, Boston, MA, 2007
- Laced with History, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI, 2007
- Marriage of True Minds, University of New England Art Gallery, Portland, ME, 2007
Awards and Honors:
- Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant, 2018
- USA Barr Fellow, United States Artists, 2016
- Individual Artist Fellowship, Maine Arts Commission, 2010
- Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant nominee, 2005, 2009
- Good Idea Grant, Maine Arts Commission, 2004, 2006, 2008
- Creative Project Award, Grant Recipient, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, 1999
- Graduate Fellowship, SUNY New Paltz, Fall 1999, Spring 1999
Bibliography:
- Gural, Natasha. “Artist Lauren Fensterstock Illuminates New York Gallery With Fervent Depiction Of Buddha’s Sermon Of The Seven Suns”, Forbes, June 11, 2021
- Jenkins, Mary. “At the Renwick Gallery, four artists conjure Mother nature out of fabric, metal, glass and paper”, Washington Post, May 11, 2021
- sculpturemag. Object Lessons: Lauren Fensterstock, Sculpture Magazine, January 27, 2021
- Coyne, Levato Lauren. “Object, Monster, Omen: An Interview with Lauren Fensterstock on Her Installation at The Renwick”, White Hot Magazine, December 2020
- Gural, Natasha. “Lauren Fensterstock’s Dazzling Comet Orbits Into The Smithsonian American Art Museum”, Forbes, October 13, 2020
- Oyer, Kate. ‘A Dark Place of Dreams’ pays tribute to feminist, installation art icon, postandcourier.com, September 14, 2020
- Keyes, Bob and Routhier, Ray. “The decade in Maine Arts and Culture”, Portland Press Herald, December 30, 2019
- Kors, Stacey. “Art Q &A: Sculptors Aaron Stephan and Lauren Festerstock keep their heads down on long-term projects”, Portland Press Herald, December 29, 2019
- Villarreal, Jose. “Exhibition marks anniversary of Louise Nevelson’s unforgettable one-person showcase at the Gibbes”, artdaily.cc, September 28, 2018
- Dube, Ilene. Artists Urge Us to Get Outside and Smell the Moss, hyperallergic.com, September 11, 2018
- Brown-Martin, Becca. “Vibrant Visions”, nwaonline.com, July 8, 2018
- Brown, A. Daniel. “Back in Black”, folioweekly.com, May 9, 2018
- Chambless, John. “New Ways of Experiencing Nature at the Brandywine”, chestercounty.com, June 22, 2018
- Beem, Edgar. “Nasty Maine Women Artists”, UMVA Journal, Spring 2017
- Coleman, Melissa. Bright-Minded Home April 2017, mainehomedesign.com, April 1, 2017
- Patton, Charlie. New Project Atrium exhibit ‘Holophusicon’ has been installed at MOCA Jacksonville, jacksonville.com, March 19, 2017
- Wolf, Micheal. Stained Glass Ceilings: 5 Women Artists Working In Glass That You Should Know, artzealous.com, March 2, 2017
- Keyes, Bob. Two Maine artists win $50,000 fellowships, pressherald.com, November 16, 2016
- Flock, s.T. Seattle Art Fair 2016 Gallery Booth Guide: BLACK OUT, vanguardseattle.com, August 5, 2016
- Upchurch, Michael. Seattle Art Fair, Day One: Warhols, shattered glass and happy gallerists, seattletimes.com, August 5, 2016
- McQuaid, Cate. Resilient Nature, Spiritual Echoes in New Shows, Boston Globe, March 22, 2016.
- Ferris, Alison, Uncommon Ground, exhibition catalog, John Michael Kohler Art Center, 2015
- Take Magazine, Art with Attitude, December 2015,
- Hagan, Debbie, Portland’s Contemporary Baroque, Art New England, November 2015
- Papagni, Chris, Dining Art: Inside Outside Above Below, Portland Phoenix, September 30, 2015
- Lieberman, Michael, Forays, and Follies, Artblog.com, August 6, 2015
- Minutella, Erica, Taking Stock of Lauren Fensterstock, InLiquid Art and Design, July 24, 2015
- Keyes, Bob the Maine/Miami art connection, Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram, December 14, 2014.
- Gjording, Lindsey Rae, The Dark Yet Luminous World of Lauren Fensterstock, beautifuldecay.com, December 12, 2014
- Schiff, Lisa, The Top Nine Trending Artists Under 40 in Miami, artsy.com, December 3, 2014
- Butler, Sharon, Inspired by Fiction: Recurrence at Fridman, Two Coats of Paint, August 16, 2014
- Bigman, Alex, Recurrence at Fridman Gallery, Daily Serving, August 7, 2014
- McQuaid, Cate, Glassy works get to the heart of prejudices, Boston Globe, January 28, 2014
- Kany, Dan, Lucinda Bliss, Lauren Fensterstock at Aucocisco in Portland, Portland Press Herald, January 12, 2014
- Beem, Edgar Allen, and Konnau, Britta, Maine Women Pioneers III, exhibition catalog, University of New England, 2013
- Morris, Mark, iPastoral, Landscape into Architecture, Architectural Design, March 2013
- Jurkiewicz, Colleen, “Uncommon Ground” Brings the Natural World Inside, On Milwaukee, July 14, 2013
- Daniel, Eddee, Review: Field of Vision at the Racine Art Museum, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 2011
- Diehl, Carol, Radical Sentimentalism: The World of Lauren Fensterstock, artist monograph, 2011
- Beem, Edgar Allen, Art on the Edge, Downeast, August 2010
- McQuaid, Cate, Gardens Dark and Foreboding, Boston Globe, April 14, 2010
- Weisgall, Deborah, SEE: Lauren Fensterstock, Maine, Nov/Dec 2009
Conversations on Content
Impermanent Conditions: artist Lauren Fensterstock discusses with Claire her use of ancient text and celestial mysteries to inspire in her new exhibition
Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020 – Virtual Preview
Lauren Fensterstock is featured in the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) exhibition virtual opening reception and program for “Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020
RUPTURES
Ballet Des Moines' Luis Delcid inspired by Lauren Fensterstock's work The Order of Things performs at the Des Moines Art Center.
Meet The Artist
An intimate introduction to the fascinating work of Lauren Fensterstock. Produced during the artist's The Museum of Glass 2016 residency.
Press
Artist Lauren Fensterstock Will Transform Chrysler Museum Gallery Into a Dark and Glittering Cosmos
ARTFIX daily
November 8, 2021
Press
Editors’ Picks: 9 Events for Your Art Calendar This Week, From a Show of Artist-Made Jewelry to a Cat Gif Screening in Times Square
artnet news
August 10, 2021
Press
Object, Monster, Omen: An Interview with Lauren Fensterstock on Her Installation at The Renwick
Whitehot Magazine
December 10, 2020
Museum & Institutional News
Smithsonian Exhibition Explores the Relationship Between Art and Nature
ARTFIX daily
October 8, 2020
Museum & Institutional News
Lauren Fensterstock’s Dazzling Comet Orbits Into The Smithsonian American Art Museum
Forbes
October 13, 2020
Museum & Institutional News
Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020
Smithsonian American Art Museum: Renwick Gallery
July 17, 2020 - February 7, 2021
Museum & Institutional News
Nature in Art
Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow
April 26, 2019 - September 29, 2019
Press
Lauren Fensterstock’s exhibit cleverly portrays ‘elusive sense of timelessness’
The Red & Black
April 1, 2019
Museum & Institutional News
Lauren Fensterstock: Portal @ Lupin Foundation Gallery
Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia
March 1, 2019 - March 29, 2019
Museum & Institutional News
A Dark Place of Dreams: Louise Nevelson with Chakaia Booker, Lauren Fensterstock, and Kate Gilmore
The Gibbes Museum of Art
September 28, 2018 - January 6, 2019
Press
Dodd Chair Lauren Fensterstock featured at the Gibbs Museum
Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia
September 24, 2018
Press
A Dark Place of Dreams’ pays tribute to feminist, installation art icon
Charleston Scene
October 10, 2018
Press
The Gibbes celebrates the legacy of sculptor Louise Nevelson in powerful all-female exhibition
Charleston City Paper
September 26, 2018
Press
Gibbes Museum of Art announces 2018-2019 exhibits, from printmaking to political sculpture
Charleston City Paper
February 6, 2018
Press
New MOCA exhibit deftly mixes monochromaticism with mood and mystery
FOLIO Magazine
May 9, 2018
Museum & Institutional News
A Dark Place of Dreams
MOCA Jacksonville
April 28, 2018 - September 9, 2018
Press
Seattle Art Fair, Day One: Warhols, shattered glass and happy gallerists
The Seattle Times
August 5, 2016
Press
Forays and Follies — Lauren Fensterstock at URBN Center Annex’s Leonard Pearlstein Gallery
artblog
August 6, 2015
Press
Stained Glass Ceilings: 5 Women Artists Working In Glass That You Should Know
Art Zealous
March 2, 2017
Museum & Institutional News
‘Holophusicon’ has been installed at MOCA Jacksonville
The Florida Times-Union
March 19, 2017
Museum & Institutional News
Fenstrstock’s ‘Holophusicon’ has been installed
MOCA Jacksonville
March 19, 2017