Artist Statement:
Our adornments are intertwined with their materials. As a jewelry artist, I merge recycled metals, repurposed wood, and responsibly harvested plants with fabrication and casting. By combining carefully considered materials and traditional jewelry techniques, I create adornments that speak to how intertwined we are with our surroundings.
Connection brings awe and wonder into my life and leads me to develop creative designs that deepen my relationship with place. This interrelatedness is a central value in my work, seen in the use of cast organic materials and endemic wood elements. Adornment is an act of conversation with ourselves and an expression of ourselves to the world around us. If our jewelry intertwines us with the world, inseparable from its materials, what do the materials of our jewelry say about how we relate to the world around us?
Bio:
Laura Lau Klein has been creating art and exploring adornment for as long as she can remember. Her early memories of making beaded jewelry and wearing seven skirts at once paint the picture of how early this all started.
Lau’s time spent painting in the art room was her favorite part of high school, leading her to study Studio Art and Art History at the University of Delaware. After school, she explored the world and its many avenues of supporting herself, from living in the woods to serving tables. Her time spent backpacking and gardening in the mountains of Western North Carolina nurtured her connection with the natural world, spurring her towards a deep conversation with herself about what materials she uses and why.
At that time, Lau began working with natural dyes and pigment making, mediums she continues to explore in her two-dimensional work. Simultaneously, Lau was pulled toward metals, excited by the sheer possibilities this medium presented. Lau now lives and makes in Asheville, North Carolina. She carries with her the questions of what materials and why while creating beautiful adornments to enrich people’s daily lives.