08/31/2026
Artwork of the Week: New Vision Cup by Les Lawrence
During the 1980s, Les Lawrence devoted his time to creating functional, slip-decorated porcelain dinnerware that he sold through craft fairs and Neiman-Marcus department stores. In his more recent work, he returned to his experiments with photo silkscreening, a process he first explored in the 1970s. His lightweight porcelain vessels are constructed from ultra-thin cast slabs that have been decorated via a photo silkscreen monoprint transfer process. His art is reminiscent of the silkscreen paintings of Pop artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg, a fellow Texan. Lawrence complicates his imagery through layering, overprinting, erasing, and manipulation using string, wires, and other material. Although the images are often familiar – such as the Mona Lisa and dollar bill used here – they are arranged to convey ambiguous private thoughts. His images often refer to issues of political, social, or ethical relevance, in part because Lawrence believes that “As human beings we are responsible for the type of world we contribute to.”
Lawrence is a ceramic artist best known as an innovator in the use of photo-silkscreen imagery, and currently lives in San Diego, California. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in Commercial Art from Southwestern State University in 1962, he completed two years of graduate work at Texas Tech University. Lawrence then established the Ceramics and Sculpture program at Hardin-Simmons University in Texas, and, after receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics from Arizona State University in 1970, he became head of the Ceramic Department at Grossmont College in California.
Image Caption: Les Lawrence, New Vision Cup, about 1990, porcelain, photo silkscreen monoprint, and stainless steel, gift of Rachel and Vincent Mills
2010.058-.059,
