For the last three years I’ve cultivated Bacterial Cellulose as a research project, a living material, and site of ecological collaboration.

In the Flowers is a series of experimental biomaterial sculptures incorporating the local ecology of Oakland, CA. Large sheets of bacterial cellulose are grown in upcycled materials and placed outdoors to cure. It is heavy, wet, physically demanding work. The cellulose sheets are then exposed to the elements creating something like a long exposure photograph of the surrounding environment. Wind, weather, time, plants, animals, insects, humans, trucks, etc. all leave visible traces, embedding time and landscape into the work.

Rather than imposing form, my role is to create conditions and allow the material to evolve. This process shifts authorship away from individual expression toward a shared act of making with the Earth. Patience, attention, and non-intervention become primary tools, inviting a slower mode of looking and a deeper engagement with cycles of growth, decay, and transformation.

I have explored this practice to create:

• Sculptures as environmental bioindicators

• Architectural Forms

• Large Sculptures

• Iridescence/Structural Color (Rainbows)

• Natural Dye Processes for Bacterial Cellulose

• Abstract 2D artworks created during the documentation process

This work is ongoing and several iterations have been shown at The Gardens at Lake Merritt in Oakland, CA. I’d be honored to continue exploring this practice during the 2027 Headlands Residency in collaboration with its unique ecology.

Lauren DeSteno is an artist, permaculture gardener, and game designer in Oakland, CA.