Loren Schwerd

New Orleans, Louisiana

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About Loren Schwerd

Loren Schwerd is an artist and educator based in New Orleans, LA. Her work uses handcraft to transform found and foraged objects, obscuring distinctions between organic and synthetic matter and reflecting the discordant relationship between nature and culture. Schwerd earned her MFA in Sculpture from Syracuse University and her BFA from Tulane University. Her work has been exhibited at the Luckman Gallery at California State University, the Center for Craft Creativity and Design in North Carolina, The Columbus Museum of Art in Georgia, La Triennale di Milano Design Museum in Milan, Italy, and the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans. Her works have been featured in FiberArt Magazine and Artistry in Fiber, Vol. 2: Sculpture, from Schiffer Publishing. She has been awarded residencies from Art Omi, the Djerassi Foundation, and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. Schwerd teaches sculpture and design at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2021

Website / Social Links

Repurposing discarded materials is a motivating force in my sculptural practice. For the past decade, my work has primarily responded to markers of crisis and resilience observed on the Gulf and Pacific coasts. Entwined by methods drawn from net making, basketry, and weaving, they pit the transformable forces of nature against suggestions of human industry and agency.”