About the artwork
The three vessels made using wild clay collected in Eastend, Saskatchewa. They were fired using a gas kiln schedule developed by the artist that acts like an atmospheric time machine. The atmosphere in the kiln is programmed to follow the path of oxygen from present day to 4.5 billion years ago. (More information about this process included in the artist's statement below.)
This artwork is included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.
The AFA acquired this artwork through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.
Artist statement
The following is an excerpt of Lauren Chipeur's artist statement. Read the full statement.
I make sculpture and site responsive installations that explore the connections between humans, waste, industry, technology and the environment. My current research explores ceramic and everyday materials to reflect on the parallel and opposing belief systems about our shared material realities. In mixing consumer products, plants, waste and geological materials my practice works towards untangling or distilling new ways to know things. The minerals our bodies absorb from the food we eat are the same minerals that make up a ceramic glaze. By tracing material lineages and biographies I try to understand a world that is concealed from view, from the interior of the body or smartphone to industrial resource extraction and production. "everything it had to swallow to make itself" unearths the relationship between the body, geology and deep time.
Artist profile
Lauren Chipeur is an artist born in Edmonton, Canada, on Treaty 6 territory, and based in Calgary, Canada, on Treaty 7 Territory.
She makes material and site-responsive sculpture that engages ceramic processes as a way to untangle or distill new ways to know things.