About

Lauren Bartone (b. 1979, Connecticut, USA) received her BA in Fine Art from UCLA, an MA in Education from UC Berkeley, and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her hand dyed and sewn textile compositions intentionally play on conventions from landscape and still life painting, as well as textile history. This work is the product of material experimentation in the studio, alongside archival research about botanics, color, and the development of national identities. Her use of dyes with historical cultural significance, like cochineal, fustic, or indigo, is a reflection of her interdisciplinary approach and curiosity about the complex and sometimes contradictory ways meaning is created through imagery.

Her recent solo exhibitions include Ribbon Rack at Sarah Shepard Gallery (2025) De Rerum Natura at Park Life Gallery (2022). Her studio work is paralleled by an ongoing engagement with dialogue in public spaces. Projects like Cloud Monument and Where We Find Ourselves (2026) were designed as a temporary intervention into the legacy of migration in San Francisco, in partnership with the California Migration Museum and the San Francisco Arts Council. Collaborative map making about shared spaces was also the subject of earlier projects such as A City in Maps (2015) and A Map for the Centennial of the Panama Pacific International Exposition with the deYoung Museum of Art in San Francisco, as well as SF New City Atlas (2016) for the Art on Market Street poster series.

She has enjoyed residencies at sites like the Orto Botanico of Palermo, Kala and Art Works Downtown in the San Francisco bay area. Her work has been generously supported with grants by the Pirkle Jones Foundation, the Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry, and research fellowships through UC Berkeley, as well as the Barbieri Grant at Trinity College. She is currently completing her dissertation as a PhD student in Italian Studies with a designated emphasis in folklore at UC Berkeley. Her work focuses on the visual and material culture of the Italian diaspora. Bartone lives and works in San Rafael, California.