Nicole McLaughlin
KEEPERS
© Nicole McLaughlin, photo by Gary Lawrence.
The cultivation and preservation of what Nicole McLaughlin feels is important to her identity is the foundation from which the ceramicist and fiber artist builds her practice. She has found a unique method to blend the two disciplines into a single object by embroidering the folding edges of glazed clay plates with hundreds of cascading hand-dyed threads. Her wall compositions seem to breathe their own life as they oscillate from hard to soft, taut to flowing. It is this fluidity between the two materials that reflects the transmission of the differing cultural aspects the artist experiences, who is first-generation Mexican American. Whether it’s emotional, cultural, or technical, every iteration of her work raises a new question grounded in self-discovery, and often they are linked to womanhood.
As she says, “My grandmother, mother, and I have lived very different lives, three generations. Within that trajectory, tradition changes so much, and there are a lot of misunderstandings that happen with that.”1 McLaughlin’s practice has thus been a familial bonding mechanism—one rich in symbolism related to motherhood, nourishment, and connection building— which she hopes continues in new ways as her position in the material lineage shifts. Having always made work from the perspective of being a daughter, what will happen when she becomes the mother of her very own?
B. 1997, Newton, MA
Lives and works in Boston, MA
WW85
Nicole McLaughlin, Agua; Sangre de Vida, 2023, Ceramic, tencel, and natural indigo. Courtesy of the artist, photo by R & Company.