Lauren Bessette
Booth 002Lauren believes that materials carry memory. Her practice began with sand gathered from specific beaches and places of personal significance—each grain a record of time and geography. Sand is the primary aggregate in the cement that forms her work, making it both structural material and sentimental one, and that dual relationship has shaped her practice ever since. She works primarily with carefully sourced aggregates, returning to collected sand for commissioned pieces when a client's own histories can be woven into the work. She finishes her pieces in ultra-matte, richly pigmented paints drawn from earth pigments—ochres, oxides, and minerals that are themselves geological records. Inspired by craftspeople who have long made pigments from natural sources, she is beginning to explore her own botanical pigments, extending the conversation between color, time, and place. Through these materials, she explores the relationship between natural transition and human-made precision—where texture, color, and weight meet in serene balance. Rooted in intuition and movement, her process allows forms to flow freely, reflecting the interplay between stillness and motion.