Laurel Roth

BiodiversityReclamation Suits for Urban Pigeon
Carolina Parakeet - 8" x 9" x 13" - 2009
Crocheted yarn, hand carved pigeon mannequin

I think the first work of Laurel Roth's that caught my eye was one of her Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeon  pieces. Being a lover of needle craft I was instantly drawn to these beautifully crafted works. In reading more about this project I leaned that these suites are representations of extinct birds that can be worn by the every day common pigeon, Love it!

Laurel's connection with nature is no doubt due in part to her background as a park ranger. I really enjoy the parallels she makes between nature and man. In particular her "Peacock " series is quite stunning. Laurel has created, highly detailed sculptures of peacocks out of beauty products like fake finger nails, barrettes, false eyelashes, nail polish, and custom jewelry.

Paradise - 8" x 12" x 35" - 2008
Fake Fingernails, Barrettes, False Eyelashes, Nail Polish, Jewlery

My first impression of these sculptures was that they represented women. In "Beholder", two beautifully "made up" figures are captured in mid fight. I saw a connection of what we adorn to make ourselves attractive and the battle for attention from the opposite sex. I thought it was very interesting, upon further reading, to find that the two birds are actually one male and one female. The artist said she left the action teetering between mating and fighting, purposefully ambiguous. Although some men also go to great lengths to be "attractive", I can't help but notice that both birds are made of women's beauty products and that fact pushes me toward a slightly different interpretation.

Beholder - 24" x 36" x 59" - 2010
Mixed media including Fake Fingernails, Barrettes, False
Eyelashes, Nail Polish, Jewelry, Walnut, Swarovski Crystal

Regardless, Laurel Roth's art is beautifully executed and time and time again, I find that artistic skill is what often captures my attention initially. What I am also realizing is that skill alone is not what keeps me pondering a piece. Content is key.

What drew me into natural resource conservation, even before I was a park ranger, was the idea that humankind and nature could work together and that I could be a part of that process. It was a mediation between society and the wild, a spot that felt somehow very fitting to me, and I continue to explore it in my current work. - Laurel Roth