Don't Miss Virtual Artist-in-Residence Lecture at Hunterdon Art Museum
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In conjunction with the fall 2020 exhibition, From the Ground Up: Peters Valley School of Craft, Hunterdon
Art Museum is holding free virtual artist lectures featuring each of the
resident artists who are in our 1st-floor galleries October through December. The artists will discuss their connection with the renowned
craft institution and their work, followed by an in-depth dialogue with HAM’s
Curator of Special Projects Jason Vartikar. Lauren Eckert is
a multimedia object maker, illustrator, and art conservator from New Jersey.
Her work has been exhibited in venues such as Museum Arnhem, Amsterdam, NL;
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN; Form & Concept
Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; New York City Jewelry Week; and Peters Valley School
of Craft, Layton, NJ. In 2018, she curated the show “The Virtual Hand” for
Temple University. Artist Statement
I view myself first and foremost as a craftsperson. However, I
love working in fields such as digital fabrication, video, audio, and
robotics and then bringing my research back to my creative home in the crafts
disciplines. The machine can be evidenced in my work through my material
choices and my processes. My wearable objects are heavily influenced by the
form languages of current technology and science fiction. I have taken
inspiration from interstellar spaceships, medical imaging equipment, early
smartphone designs, and video game controllers. I am interested in these
forms because metal and other industrial infrastructure has a strong visual
presence in the aesthetics of both utopian and dystopian imagery, allowing me
to access a wealth of associations about the changing present and speculative
futures. Industry is so dissimilar from flesh, yet it functions in our imagination
to constrain, advance, and augment the flesh through digital and mechanical
means. Similarly, I use the tools and materials of industry – metal,
computers, screens, 3D printing, and code – as a means to witness the
machine’s collaborative relationship with people and thought. This results in
objects and digital works that can come from, look towards, and suggest my
visions for anticipated versions of the future. |
