Long Island Ceramics Artist Stacks for Beauty Over Function

The lightbulb moment for Lori Rosen came in a New York City basement.

The owner of Lori Rosen Designs grew up in Brooklyn, appreciating art, attending Broadway shows with her mother and visiting the city’s museums regularly. She enjoyed drawing and tinkering with watercolor and pastels.

Her grandfather on her mother’s side painted oils. “I think I inherited my creativity,” Lori said. “I had great art teachers who were always so nice to me, and I flourished.”

Lori dreamed of being a fine artist but had a father who wanted her to be practical. “If you’re gonna do that art thing, you gotta major in something where you can make a living,” she remembers him saying.

A couple years of college convinced Lori she did not want to pursue graphic design. She was thrilled to be accepted into Parsons School of Design, among the pioneer art schools with a global reputation for excellence. It made sense to major in illustration.

Renowned artist Georgia O’Keeffe became a favorite. “She is still everything to me,” Lori said.

The first time Lori stepped into Parsons’ ceramic studio, in a basement on Fifth Avenue at the time, was an epiphany: “I need to take a ceramics class.”

Her favorite part of painting had been the actual feel of paper in her hands. The idea of working with clay was even more appealing, especially when her first ceramics professor assured her that clay didn’t have to be just functional. Clay could be sculptural.

Those ideas awakened the dream of becoming a fine artist.

“I’ve always liked the idea of touching your art, not just hanging a two-dimensional piece,” she said. “That’s my passion.”

Lori discovered that she loved building – stacking art forms of varied shapes and sizes atop one another. By paddling, carving and glazing the pottery, the personality of the piece begins to emerge.

After graduating from Parsons, Lori took a receptionist position so she could stay within walking distance of the ceramics studio. Enrolling in more classes meant she could continue to use the kiln there.

While visiting a neighbor of her parents’ one day, she struck up a conversation about the ceramics in that home. Her knowledge of design led him to mention having an extra kiln in his Long Island office that was hers if she could come get it.

“Luckily I had cousins with a pickup truck,” she said. They hauled the kiln to her family home, a weekend that she calls “the beginning of my art journey.”

Each of her pieces begins with her shaping a thin slab of clay with a drape mold. Every shape she makes is two halves put together while the clay is still pliable. No two pieces form the same, and perfect symmetry is not the goal. Nor is function.

“I want it to be decorative and pleasing to the eye,” she said.

When the pieces dry, they’re fired into the kiln. They return to the kiln after being glazed. Lori lives near the Long Island beaches; her favorite, Cedar Beach, is on the Long Island Sound. Leafing through art books gave her an idea.

“After a good storm, the North Fork is rocky. That’s where I get my driftwood,” said Lori, who started incorporating driftwood into her pottery 22 years ago. The saltwater petrifies the wood that she totes home in a bag.

The handles on her pots, similar to Asian teapots, are driftwood. Lori recently began making wind chimes, which allows her to use more offbeat shapes of driftwood. She’s also advanced to making wood tables with ceramic pedestals. Lori buys the wood for those in the Berkshires. Her husband, Bennett, learned to stain and sand so they collaborate on the larger pieces.

“I want my art to look like it’s unearthed,” she said. “It almost has a primitive feel to it.”

Her studio is in the basement of her home, where her Havanese Chloe keeps her company. Typically, a Hulu documentary plays in the background. “I stand when I work and I listen because I love to learn,” Lori said.

Beyond flea markets and small craft shows, it didn’t occur to Lori to sell her work until prompted by a fellow artist. She found her way into the juried shows and works 10 to 18 shows per year. She loves chatting with folks who admire her work and years ago met Rose Squared founders Howard and Janet Rose.

“The second time I did a Rose Squared show, I had a 5-foot sculpture in my booth that they bought,” she said. “They are really lovely people.”

Lori’s children are also artists. Her son, Jared, is an illustrator, and her daughter, Emily, is a makeup artist.

Look for Lori and her booth at Rose Squared this year!