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Lauren G. Koch
Mingling Echoes
2020
Journal Entries of Memories Screen-Printed on Muslin Dyed with Natural Colorants that was Processed into Rope and Found Object Installation
Mingling Echoes
2020
Journal Entries of Memories Screen-Printed on Muslin Dyed with Natural Colorants that was Processed into Rope and Found Object Installation
Work Statement: Mingling Echoes is an installation comprised of written word, alchemic reactions, found and repurposed objects, as well as sculptural forms of my own creation. All are abstractions from my subconscious, and they are blended with influential objects from my past in an intuitive manner. It provides just a brief glimpse into my inspirations and personal experiences that have led to how I perceive memories are connected, intertwined, and ultimately, triggered. The memories printed on the spun cloth connect some objects and bypass others creating a switch board effect with the objects serving as terminus points for the memories, similar to the neurological hubs where memories are stored and pathways that connect memories in the brain.
Artist Statement: Time… it does not pass without effect. There is always something left behind, a residue, created by its passage. Our life experiences and relationships leave traces on our lives both mentally and physically. These fleeting personal experiences and remnants of collective memory are what fuel my work. I prefer to work intuitively and follow my emotions, which often presents itself as abstractions of the subconscious blended with influential objects from my past. Works are explored and developed through a process of using both known, experimental, and alchemic methods, which I often find rather meditative and cathartic. Smell, sound, and touch activate emotional connections to memories on a different level than what can be seen, so when able, I try to stimulate numerous senses at once. As free-spirited as I would like to be, the urge to control everything in my life is strong. In many ways I must force myself to permit disorder and the unknown. These contradictions further facilitate the work by employing both experimental and traditional materials and methods which allows me to meld unpredictability with intentionality in distinctive situations.
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Artist Bio: Originally from the Appalachian foothills of Northwest Georgia, Lauren G. Koch is an interdisciplinary artist and classically trained musician, who prefers songwriting and playing folk instruments. In 2016, she graduated from the University of West Georgia, with concentrations in sculpture, printmaking, and a minor in art history. Spring of 2020, she successfully presented her thesis defense and exhibition amid the COVID-19 quarantine, completing her MFA at the University of Maryland. She will be remaining in the DMV area teaching art throughout the region.
Lauren was steeped in the traditions and crafts of Northern Europe and Appalachia. Her artwork serves as a conduit for fleeting personal and collective memories. For almost 20 years, she has been involved in the iron casting community and is recognized for her utilization of ferrous metals and natural colorants for mark making. |
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Website: www.lgkart.wixsite.com
Instagram: @lace.anvil_lgkart Mingling Echoes MFA Thesis Paper - UMD 2020 Memories and Nets- Lauren G. Koch, December 2019
What if memories could be caught Like fish, in nets… Dredged up, cast back, only to be caught again? If you really think… Memories just might be the net, Woven, each strand connected, yet separate. But only we can decide… Are we casting the net… to remember? Or are we being caught and entangled? |
Treasure Hunting – Lauren G. Koch March 2020
If y’all go down there be careful. Don’t run up on a snake now, And don’t step on any boards with rusty nails in them. It wouldn’t have been said, unless it had happened. We’d just roll our eyes, sure they were worrying for nothing. Off we’d go, hunting for treasure in the vine encased barn. That was all that held the rot and rust together, in the muggy, mosquito laden, Georgia heat. Lifting the vines, we felt like explorers of lost temples, in deep exotic jungles. It was exotic, for us. We were used to the imaginary lands thought up on the playground. The barn was some red dirt floored shrine, filled with unimaginable bounty. The ground under our feet hard packed, Polished, from years of hooves and work boots. Embedded across its surface, Rusty nuts and bolts, screws, nails Broken coke bottles and crumpled oil cans. If you were lucky, you might find a wheat penny. Bug sounds and cooing doves, overhead in the rafters Had a way of making you notice the drastic temperature drop Of the looming darkness that was the cavernous bowels of the barn. It was hard to tell if that was a bead of sweat Running down your spine or a chill. Wait, what was that bulky shape in the far corner? Mind racing… did it move? Finally… brave enough to creep forward, Only to find the moldy tarped form of a motorcycle. |
