LAURA MOORADIAN
Laura has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Wayne State University, and Bachelor of Fine Art: Major in Material & Craft Study in Ceramics, Minor in Art Education from the College for Creative Studies. She has spent over 17 years specializing in early childhood development in Metro Detroit, and over 8 years with Fortress Studios Detroit, a workshop and maker space for emerging artists. Laura utilizes art to help little ones explore the world around them as well as to develop their internal systems. Laura believes art as the intermediary for exploration and information processing cultivates inquisitiveness, kindness, confidence, creativity, compassion, and understanding. She lives and works in Detroit, Michigan.
Anywhere But Here, 2022 Ceramic, Found Objects 36”x24”x72”
Anywhere But Here, 2022 Ceramic, Found Objects 36”x24”x72”
TWAT, 2022 Ceramic, Plants 36”x36”x36”
TWAT, 2022 Ceramic, Plants 36”x36”x36”
Drainage Fee, 2022 Ceramic, Plants 12”x12”x96”
Drainage Fee, 2022 Ceramic, Plants 12”x12”x96”
Drainage Fee, 2022 Ceramic, Plants 12”x12”x96”
Recess, 2023 Ceramic, Sand, Wood, Steel, Water Pump 96”x96”x36”
Recess, 2023 Ceramic, Sand, Wood, Steel, Water Pump 96”x96”x36”
Recess, 2023 Ceramic, Sand, Wood, Steel, Water Pump 96”x96”x36”
LAURA MOORADIAN
I have been making ceramic replicas and what I call ‘snapshots’ because they are simultaneously durable and fragile and reflect a similar and precarious balance that is also present in my community at the Fortress in Detroit. We are hearty and resilient, but what happens when we, as outsiders of the status quo, are weeded out and displaced?
Ceramic objects that communicate from cultures almost 30,000 years ago have miraculously survived but could just as easily have been shattered and lost to time. Clay is ever-present, it is ubiquitous throughout our collective history, and yet is still widely accessible today. I am joining in the longstanding tradition of creating and communicating my values through this practice and infusing my own experience into the record of time.
As a practice, I play. I want my contribution to the record to be that of open, receptive, and engaging play. If we are to survive, I want our path forward to be uninhibited. I want curiosity and wonder to reign free. I want cooperation, empathy, and grace to endure in the face of challenges. Our best is the result of the collective, and we get there by working and playing together.
The objects I replicate serve as markers in a city and space where folks like me were welcome and free to thrive in our own unconventional ways. Recent initiatives have revealed the challenges of “urban renewal” ~ overlooking the value of the persevering culture in place. How do we reconcile the old with the new? We push forward and play without completely decimating the past; instead living with, learning from, and trying to create something in concert with it. Once the detritus and weeds are cleared from an area during gentrification it is not long before there are sweeps of the communities and people, all under the guise of ”progress.” It does not feel like progress, it feels like the recurrence of historical patterns that keep large swaths of the population locked in systems of inequity, debt, and despair. I reject the value structures that encourage and enable the proliferation of these harmful patterns, and stunt the advent of creativity, community, and resourcefulness. I am working to fortify the circumstances that are ideal for growing the relationships, conditions, and communities that I want to exist.
My contribution is an invitation to play together.