Chalkboard

Medium: Chalkboard
Date: 2020
Dimensions: 22″ x 30”

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Lauren C. Steinert

Statement:
A path is a way of making sense of the world. People often ignore the well worn marks that lead them down a path; choosing instead to observe the bigger things happening around them. I choose to look closer at the marks. By tracing marks that are left behind by the many who have used a space, I recognize a path. Through engraving and tracing the marks, I travel the trail and experience the presence of the people who left the marks behind.

Because I believe that objects hold memories more distinctly than people, the marks I examine come from the surface of well-used communal tables. I trace the marks by engraving them into plexiglass sheets. In using a transparent material to record the marks, I am able to then cast light and project shadows of the marks which creates a way for observers to travel overlooked trails. The light refracts through the plexi creating both a shadow and a reflected version of the marks. The transparency of the plexi echos the lack of observation most people have towards detail. By reducing the table to a projected form of only its’ marks, they then become more prevalent and the viewer more aware of the path, allowing them to see and appreciate the overlooked history.

Lauren C. Steinert received a Bachelor of Science and Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in printmaking and glass-working along with Bachelor degree’s in Environmental Science and German. She is currently completing an MFA in Studio Art within the Printmaking department at the University of Arizona. She currently works as the Printmaking Technician for the University of Arizona and is a Glassblowing Assistant at the Sonoran Glass School in Tucson, Arizona.