Lauren Cleary is a ceramic artist and first-year MFA candidate in Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art. An East Coast native, she holds a BFA in Studio Art from Carnegie Mellon University (2002) and an MA in Art Therapy from George Washington University (2005).
Drawing on over two decades of experience as a somatic and attachment-focused EMDR psychotherapist, Cleary examines how bodies adapt to conditions inside systems in terms of safety, care, and belonging. She has exhibited internationally and presented extensively
on cultivating ethical conversations with cultural humility across New Zealand, Hong Kong, and North America.
In 2022, Cleary returned to clay via the Wellington Potters’ Association in New Zealand, serving as the glaze team co- lead and a kiln operator. Building on a recent Watershed Center residency and an Anderson Ranch scholarship, her research investigates how
asymmetrical power shapes legibility and access, examining what a body learns it must do to remain connected.
