We’re thrilled to welcome 2025 Environmental Artist in Residence, Gracelee Lawrence, back to Bernheim for a second visit on May 16, 2026.
A New York-based artist, Gracelee’s work explores the ecological, ethical, and emotional costs of technological advancements, particularly in industrial agriculture. Using 3D printer filament made from GMO corn and other discarded materials, Gracelee engages with the complexities of sustainability and industrial farming, addressing issues such as monoculture, biodiversity loss, and the energy-intensive processes behind bioplastics.
Gracelee also heads the sculpture program at the University at Albany, SUNY. We are grateful they’ve found time to be in residence during breaks in semesters and within their busy exhibition schedule. They’ve attended more than 20 artist residencies, exhibited their work worldwide, and have installations at Wave Hill Public Garden in the Bronx and Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota. In addition to being an artist, Gracelee is also an avid gardener in a rural landscape, which contributes to their artistry.
Gracelee joined us for a short stint in October, where they were introduced to the forest, explored the botanic wonders of the edible garden, and studied the various tree collections in the Arboretum. For their Bernheim proposal, they began examining the surface patterns found in both digital systems and the ecological networks of Bernheim’s forested areas.
During my time at Bernheim, I was able to truly sink into the cycles and particularities of the plant world. Watching summer turn to fall, I had the time and space to think deeply about the ecologies of the landscape at Bernheim. My daily walks turned into material research, 3D scanning the trees in the Arboretum and then working with their digital selves in my sculptural practice. Bernheim is such a special, beautiful place, and I’m extremely grateful to have spent time amongst the plants.
Meet the Artist
Gracelee will be presenting a lecture on their Bernheim-inspired ideas during a LASER Talk (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) at Maybe It’s Fate Cooperative Gallery and Social Club on May 17 at 1:30 pm.
Maybe It’s Fate is located at 1425 Story Avenue in Louisville. Gracelee’s talk is titled The Pattern Underneath. They will be joined by two other speakers: Louisville-based fiber artist Briana Frederick and 2025–26 Louisville Orchestra Creator-in-Residence Chelsea Komschlies.
Come join in for discussion, snacks, and fun!
Register for the LASER Talk & join the conversation
About the LASER Talk from Maybe It’s Fate Cooperative:
The Pattern Underneath
What does a hand-woven scarf have in common with an encrypted cipher? What connects the structure of a loom to the logic of a 3D-printed sculpture—or the arc of a folk tale to the architecture of a musical score?
The Pattern Underneath brings together three artists working at the intersection of material, memory, and technology to explore a single animating question: what is the deep structure that holds a made thing together?
In the tradition of LASER (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) talks, this evening moves across disciplines without apology—trusting that the friction between a weaver’s hands, a sculptor’s algorithms, and a composer’s narrative instincts will generate more light than any single field could alone. These are not parallel practices. They are the same practice, arrived at by different paths.
The Louisville LASER program is a series of lectures and presentations on art, science, and technology-related projects and an affiliate of Leonardo/International Society for the Arts, Science and Technology (ISAST). Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks is a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists, and technologists together for informal presentations, performances, and conversations with the wider public. The mission of LASER is to encourage contributions to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building across more than 50 cities and five continents worldwide.
