Lauren Shapiro

Detail of Collected Forms, 2025 at Port of Miami 🌊 Two monumental ceramic friezes — installed 8 to 16 feet high on custom-routed acoustical panels at the @msccruisesofficial terminal for @artinpublicplacesmdc — are built from ocean details I’ve been gathering for more than a decade. One recurring motif is the seahorse. This specimen was scanned from the Natural & Cultural Collections of South Florida at @evergladesnps during a recent residency. It’s now part of my growing 3D model library and appears in several of my works. My process combines archiving and translation: 3D scanning, digital mold fabrication, and clay casting. Ceramics is one of the oldest technologies we have; here it intersects with 21st-century tools to preserve fragile natural forms in a permanent material. 📷: @pedrowazzan #PublicArt #ceramicart #MiamiArt #ArtAndEcology #Seahorse

I’ve been developing an experimental project called Sand Relief, a participatory earthwork that explores the tension and harmony between Miami’s built and natural environments. The work grew out of a deeper investigation into place, ephemerality, and tool paths, where analog gestures meet digitally fabricated forms. Using custom-made sled tools and rakes inspired by traditional crown molding methods and Art Deco architecture profiles, I’ve been carving sculptural patterns into the shoreline, temporary drawings meant to disappear with the tide. It’s been a process of letting go, of listening to the land (and tides), and embracing impermanence as part of the work. On Saturday, June 7th, I’ll be activating Sand Relief during @worldoceancelebration.miami on Miami Beach. Come play with the tools and co-create this evolving installation with us. 🔗 Link in bio to register 📸 @alexmarkow @art_sail @bluescholarsinitiative #SandRelief #WorldOceansDay #Earthwork #EphemeralArt #ToolPaths #EnvironmentalArt #LandArt #MiamiArt #ArtInPublicPlaces

I’m honored to receive this prestigious grant—one that many South Florida artists have had their eye on since time immemorial. Pretty sure I’ve applied every year for a solid decade, so to all my fellow comrades knee-deep in the glamorous trenches of grant writing: don’t give up. Congrats to my fellow Cultural Consortium Award recipients, and thank you to the jury for choosing me as one of this year’s winners. Excited for our group show at @mocanomi next year ☀️ Cover pic by @pedrowazzan - with my commission at @msccruisesofficial and @artinpublicplacesmdc Studio support @bakehouseartcomplex My PR Queen @hayworth.co #artinpublicplaces @miamidadearts

Studio & life lately 💎 💫 💦

We’re excited to share that Lauren Shapiro’s (@loshap ) Little Bloom (2026) is included in this year’s silent auction at The Bass (@thebassmoa ). The wall-mounted glazed ceramic relief distills Shapiro’s ongoing exploration of ecology, architecture, and memory into an intimate, tactile form. Undulating, citrus and floral forms drawn from South Florida’s biodiverse landscape emerge across the surface, their soft curvature and white glaze lending the work a luminosity. Proceeds from the auction directly support The Bass’s exhibitions, education initiatives, and artists. Artworks may be bid on through April 23, culminating in The Bass’ Night at the Museum gala. We hope to see you there! Little Bloom, 2026 Glazed ceramic 12 × 8 inches Images by Alejandra Beltran Castaño. Courtesy Lauren Shapiro.

Glaze details from the studio 💎 This is where things really open up, somewhere between alchemy and chemistry. Everything plays a role: composition, heat, timing, application. I’ve been refining firing schedules lately to shift between glossy, matte, and more atmospheric surfaces. #ceramics #glaze #material #process

Atmospheric studies of sky, water, and light for a new body of work with moody glazes 🖤
 Details of a soon-to-be revealed artwork alongside images from a recent winter paddle and camp in Hell’s Bay, ENP.

A few projects have been taking shape over the past few months 🏛️ From drawings to digital to physical to architectural with some of the largest forms I’ve built to date! I’m beginning to develop an archive of digital master molds… sourced from my growing library of collected forms. still a bit surreal to see them at this scale thankful for my team 🤍 @artandmgmt @bakehouseartcomplex slide one + two 📷: @aleinthecrowd

Spent the past two weeks digging through treasures at @wolfsonian on Miami Beach for the Creative Fellowship🏺 here’s a snapshot of all the cool things I’ve had the chance to look at - thank you to the amazing staff for being the best hosts and opening all the boxes and to the selection committee for choosing me for the fellowship🫀I’m feeling very inspired! #archives #wolfsonianmuseum

Some trials, yes. But mostly beauty. A quieter kind of clarity found underwater, in wild places, in the slow work of making.

It’s the kind of magic you can’t plan for. 🪷 Almost two weeks ago, we gathered at @miamibeachgarden to celebrate Lauren Shapiro (@loshap ), our first member-commissioned artist of Season Eight. The master ceramicist, mold maker, public artist, former Girl Scout, and self-proclaimed archive nerd invited us to explore the gardens through a sunset treasure hunt. Each luxe black box contained a unique and truly spectacular ceramic sculpture, inspired by elements of South Florida’s landscape—fruits, aquatic animals, plants, crystal formations, and more. These elements draw from Shapiro’s extensive research-backed library of molds and glazes, some of which were developed during our diving excursion with her last year. Every piece is one of a kind: 50 distinct glazes and 50 different arrangements—all created with tremendous care for our community. What a way to top off this year. We are so grateful for Shapiro, and this beautiful reminder to stay curious, learning, and connected. ✨ 🙇🏾‍♀️ Read the full recap by Adaeze Nwakobi (@iloveadaeze ) and see all the works and riddles at commissioner.us/stories. This could be your challenge to learn more about South Florida flora in a nature hunt of your own. 🙏🏾 Photography by @chantal_lawrie . The production team that brought this reveal event to life includes Claudia Des Rosiers (@ticlau_ ), Veronica Gort (@anomalyno.27 ), Sofia Metcalf, Grey Pierre-Louis (@oreoflip ), and our beloved mixologist, Rico (@ricothedon__ ). We extend overwhelming gratitude to Amy Rosenberg, her team, and the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. @titosvodka kept us hydrated, and our community nourished us in every way. Big love to art+mgmt’s @juliabassiri and @nicolasochart , with whom we worked hand in glove. 🎁 Collectors: Our curatorial partners at @primaryprojects are holding your work for pickup. While you’re there, explore “that which frightens us,” a group exhibition by David Correa, Genesis Moreno, Richard Moreno, and our Season Seven commissioned artist, Luna Palazzolo-Daboul. Pick Up Dates & Hours January 8 - 10 and January 15 - 17, 2026 Thursdays and Fridays | 11 AM – 6 PM Saturdays | 12 – 4 PM

After dropping hints all season, we’re thrilled to announce that the much-anticipated Lauren Shapiro, visual artist and master ceramicist, is our 51st commissioned artist and the first of our Season Eight membership program.🪸 Rooted in deep research, Shapiro’s practice transforms the everyday fragments of our material environment—such as details of coral, gemstones, and plant life—into layered narratives that are, on the surface, seductive and polished. But just as ceramics hold the history of the world, Shapiro aims for a fuller, more complicated story than the aesthetic beauty of the object. For the artist, the material becomes a storyteller and an archive. Her sculptures, crafted from clay and finished with a kaleidoscope of glazes, reflect the cultural and ecological histories of our surroundings, examining climate, migration, and the fragility of human systems. 💌 Members: Join us for a nature hunt and artwork reveal on December 13 at the lush @miamibeachgarden . We’re looking forward to reconvening with the artist—this time on land!—for a reveal that promises even more discovery. Filmed by @ac2565 . Big love to @bakehouseartcomplex @wolfsonian @lunagoldberg @artandmgmt @anomalyno.27 Sofia Metcalf for the incredible support.