Unurth is a collection of handmade ceramics by Jenn Lamb that aims to inspire wonder and connection to the natural world. Imbued with evocative color and textures, each piece is a link between ourselves and the sea, sky, and landscapes of the West.
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I explore themes of natural, spiritual, and emotional forces through a multidisciplinary ceramic practice that shifts between art and functional objects. My work pulls forms from geological processes, native ecosystems, textures and patterns found in the world and cosmos. The forms feel familiar, often as abstract landscapes that we move through—attempting to communicate the transitory complexity of human and natural connections.
We are nature and nature is us, whether we want it to be so or not. There is wisdom in observing these processes as a way to gain insight into our own relationships, selves, and communities. There's an invisible thread connecting all of us in a multitude of ways. I have been developing a personal lexicon on these themes for several years. I utilize the lexicon and poetry often to focus the intent of the work.
Each piece is handcrafted at my studio in Southwestern Washington.
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BIO
A fifth generation Californian, Jenn grew up exploring it's multitudes. With parents in both Northern California and Southern California, she divided her time between the Bay and So Cal. She soaked up all it's energy and dreams with California's culture of innovation, innovative entertainment industry, expansive art world, incredible diversity of people and nature, fantastic punk and music scene, science fiction, and sunny vibes. Destined to always be in between worlds in one way or another, by race, by family, by place, and by circumstance, she uses this outlook to inform her work.
Jenn knew she wanted to be an artist from a young age and has pursued it all her life. She studied with incredible artists along the way in Los Angeles in the Santa Monica College Fine Arts Mentor Program and at Otis College of Design where she earned her BFA.
After an extended time caregiving her grandmother at her end of life journey, Jenn and her family headed up the coast to explore more of the West. She currently resides and works in beautiful Southern Washington, across the river from delightful Portland, Oregon, with her family and small herd of cats. She continues to explore the incredible nature across the West, obsess over it's native plants and geology, and create art and design works that infuse it's beauty and wisdom within each piece.
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Eternal gratitude and thanks to the ancestors whose shoulders I stand upon and the mentors I've had along the way: My grandmothers, Aunts Cecilia and Freddie Ann, My mom, Ms. Nielson (10th grade English), Robin Mitchell, Linda Lopez, Sharon Kagan, Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Randall Wilson, Jo Lauria, among many others, and all the dear friends that are in this with me.
I hope to lift others as you all have lifted me.