Lauren Faust earned her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire in Eau Claire, WI and did Post-Baccalaureate Studies in Clay at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. She then went on to earn an MSN, Graduate Entry Masters Program Nursing at Rush University Medical Center College of Nursing in Chicago, IL. She currently works as a Registered Nurse, RN, MSN in addition to engaging in her busy clay studio practice. Lauren Faust's arresting illustrated pottery is an exploration of the precious flora and fauna with whom we share the world and for whom we reserve progressively less and less habit and resources. In scrumptious black stoneware impressed with handmade stamps and gilded in luminous underglaze, Lauren builds gorgeous worlds populated with some of the more potentially ephemeral inhabitants of ours, such as endangered pangolins, whale sharks, and corals, preserved like a record in the permanence of fired clay. Her pots are wonderful to touch, and they are super functional, promising enormous potential for interaction and falling in love with her vessels and their animal inhabitants. Look past the beauty of her designs and see the petition in this work to care about the creatures and environments in our world as more than just pretty things to look at but as beings worthy of preservation in their own right -and of space in our world.