Lorien Stern Crafts “Goofy” Ceramic Sharks to Make Their Scariness Approachable

Artist Lorien Stern is nat­u­ral­ly afraid of sharks but has based a large part of her cre­ative prac­tice on form­ing them from clay. “I like mak­ing them look kin­da goofy or in bright col­ors or smil­ing,” she explains in a doc­u­men­tary about her work. Doing this “dis­arms” her fear of sharks, and it speaks to her over­all phi­los­o­phy of her art; she makes scary things approach­able. In addi­tion to sharks, Lorien has pro­duced ceram­ic ghost vas­es that allow you to stick fresh blooms in their body. The results are charm­ing and evoke a sense of play every time they’re on view.

Lorien’s work is cur­rent­ly on view at Rare Device in San Fran­sis­co. If you’re local, you’ve got until Jan­u­ary 14, 2019, to check it out.

Artist Lorien Stern makes scary things approachable through her colorful ghost and shark ceramics.

Her work is on view at Rare Device in San Fransico until January 14, 2019.