Lauri Richardson

Mosaic is a medium that suits my profile—various pieces ultimately coming together. With a degree in biology and fine arts, a master in environmental studies, and certification in elementary education—my occupation is graphic design and my recreation is mosaic.

Compelled to make art, speaking as a naturalist, I had been creating mosaic sculptures depicting survival mechanisms. Natural defenses are strategies that I believe humans share with other members of the animal world, which I was illustrating through several projects.

Last year my focus shifted; motivated to create a visual that would provoke dialogue about the Iraq War. The desire to recognize the lives and deaths of our men and women serving in Iraq crosses political boundaries. I invited the Brattleboro area community to paint flags for a memorial acknowledging each military service person killed in Iraq. The installation traveled to the commons of three Vermont towns. Public responses to the memorial were the inspiration for Reading Between the Lines—a collection of comments from veterans, from parents whose sons were on their way to Iraq, from a woman just out of the Navy, from peace activists. Their words were incorporated into mosaic plaques. Mosaic—a process of uniting that which has been broken into a cohesive whole.

Newfane installation

"Distress"

"Empathy"