With clay as a primary medium, Lauren Herzak-Bauman makes objects and installations about mourning and loss. Her environments convert ordinary spaces into sober, quieted places. Materials and textures suggest decrepit spaces such as abandoned buildings. Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Lauren connects her impulse to make art with early memories of visiting the group home where her sister lived. Growing up around dozens of other physically and mentally disabled children, she learned a method of non-verbal communication, not dissimilar to the way a work of art communicates with its viewer. Making things in clay was never a question, but more of an answer. Lauren studied ceramics at The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (MFA 2009) and Bowling Green State University (BFA 2004). Recent solo exhibitions include “3650” at The Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, WI, and “Passages” at the Sculpture Center in Cleveland, OH.