Orchid Afterlife

Lacey Verhalen received a grant for the development of new work. Her latest stoneware series seeks an aesthetics of adaptation through images of surreal hybridized bioabundant environments, where life flows unbroken and interdependent. A sprawling poplar wears moss like fur. A sparrow eyes a worm tossing in the sun, surrounded by the faces of hardy heliotropic flowers. A butterfly floats on keratin wings. A rose grafts to a cactus. Scenes of fertile decay and chaotic transformation offer visions of persistent survival in an ever-evolving world.

Lacey works and thinks across the themes of enchantment and entanglement through an exploration of control, synthesis, fantasy, and affection. These fixations drive a world-building practice traced in ceramic scenes that explore fantastical environments. Lacey is an alum of the Dutch Art Institute.