Lauren Fensterstock creates elaborate sculptures and installations that bind our physical and metaphysical landscapes. Extravagant in their material presence and devotional labor, her works command the eye to the present moment, bringing attention to embodied experience. She says, “I am not chasing a transcendence that rises above, but an immanence that resides within, here in the stuff of this earth.”
Encrusted with crystals, faceted glass, shells, and semi-precious stones, Fensterstock’s sculptures absorb and reflect light, suggesting jeweled meteors, lotus blossoms, grottos, and mysterious terrestrial forms. Accompanying the sculptures is a series of ink and crystal-embellished drawings she created at Civitella Raniere, an artist residency in a 15th-century castle in Umbertide, Italy. Collectively titled “Amrita,” a Sanskrit term for “immortality,” referring to the “nectar of the gods” or “ambrosia,” these exquisitely rendered abstract images radiate energy and connection, serving as a diary of Fensterstock’s stay.
Lauren Fensterstock: in each and every presents recent sculptures and works on paper by the Portland, Maine-based artist. Fensterstock received her BFA from the Parsons School of Design and MFA from SUNY New Paltz. Her work has been shown internationally, including at The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Reykjavik Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Rikswijk Museum, and Des Moines Art Center. She has been awarded grants from United States Artists, Groot Foundation, and Artist’s Resource Trust. She currently teaches in the Jewelry Department at the Rhode Island School of Design. Previously, she served as the Lamar Dodd Professional Chair at the University of Georgia, Academic Program Director of the Interdisciplinary MFA in Studio Arts at the Maine College of Art, and as Interim Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art.