Lauren Comito’s prints represent systems of complex organization, figures that dual as both schematic and substrate — waiting to be activated, assembled, and cultivated. Working from flattened packaging as templates, Comito traced the hidden geometry of everyday containers, finding within them the raw material for something far more enduring. Reminiscent of ancient codes and sacred icons, these large-scale black and white prints are blueprints for rebuilding, their shapes and compartments folding and unfolding to reveal a packaged logic that functions as both instruction manual and devotional object. The shapes drawn from these humble containers — their circles, grids, and bilateral symmetry — carry an unexpected resonance, echoing the geometry found in nature and in the sacred objects of ancient cultures. In reclaiming the disposable as something monumental, Comito’s work quietly asks what we choose to preserve, and what we throw away.
Recently I was awarded a grant through the New School where I have taught for the last 4 years. This is funding goes towards the making of my first artists’ book. I began my journey by taking a workshop with Anne Eder at the Penumbra Foundation to learn how to work with phytograms and lumen prints. This fascinating process uses plant chemistry. Below are some of my first experiments.
phytogram experiments
The following group of images are examples of lumen prints and contact prints from the phytograms above. I experimented combining plastic packing with the botanicals.
Amanda Thackray, Blue Ghost Trawler, 2020, Hand pigmented cotton paper pulp, 30 x 89 x 0.5 inches Milcah Bassel, Untitled Triptych (from Rewilding the Grid), 2025, gouache on handmade paper (cotton, mystery pulp, pigment), 18.5 x 14 inches (each)Rachel Frank, Chrysalid Hybrid Hand, 2025 Watercolor and pigment on paper 22 x 15 inches Amanda Thackray Stacked nets (4), 2022 Handmade paper (pigmented cotton and pigmented overbeaten flax) 8.5 x 11 inches Rachel Frank, Wading Foot Tangle, 2024 Ink, watercolor, and pigment on paper 11 x 15 inches Lauren Comito, Copepods no. 7, 2025, cyanotype on paper, 9 x 12 inches
I am writing to share exciting summer news about my latest project made possible through a Community Art Grant from the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC).
Balancing Ecosystems opens at The Courthouse Gallery in Lake George, NY this month, running from Saturday, June 21st through Wednesday, July 2nd. This group exhibition, presented by the Lake George Arts Project, features multimedia artworks including myself, Milcah Bassel, Rachel Frank, and Amanda Thackray. Our work invites viewers to explore the visible, hidden, and symbolic aspects of natural beauty found in aquatic environments, with each artist expressing ideas of interconnection between organisms within ecosystems.
You’re invited to the Artists’ Reception on Saturday, June 28th from 4:00-6:00 PM at The Courthouse Gallery (1 Lower Amherst Street, Lake George, NY). This exhibition coincides with a retreat at the Goldey House, where this group of artists is investigating the freshwater ecosystems of Lake George, to deepen our understanding of these interconnected natural systems.
Additional Events at the Courthouse Gallery:
Sunday, June 29th (12:00-4:00 PM): Sunday Arts gallery tour and art-making opportunity (free, all ages)
Wednesday, July 2nd (10:00 AM-12:00 PM): Special Floating Classroom experience with the Lake George Association – participants will measure water, examine zooplankton, and create visual interpretations.
On Saturday, July 19th, I will present Beyond the Shore, the culmination of my LARAC-funded work, at Huletts Landing Park (6303 Sunset Bay Road, Huletts Landing). This body of work examines copepods—tiny crustacean zooplankton—along with aquatic plants found in Lake George. Through large-scale cyanotype prints, I’m making these microscopic “guardians of the lake” visible, revealing the delicate structures of creatures that play essential roles in filtering and purifying the water. The public reception will take place on 7/19 from 2:00-4:00 PM in the pavilion.
I am thrilled to invite you to my open studio as part of LIC Open Studios at my new space in Hunters Point, where I’ve been working since January.
I’ll be showcasing my latest series of cyanotypes—a project supported by a recent grant that will be exhibited in upstate New York this summer. These works explore ethereal structures and celestial beings through a fascinating process of “painting with light.” By arranging objects on photosensitive surfaces and exposing them to light, I create collages from cast shadows incorporating post-consumer waste, bodily forms, and natural elements.
This technique has allowed me to explore the interconnectedness of these materials and the concept that everything—including the waste we create—is fundamentally of and from nature.
