Lucy Pearl Stafford
- Kate Anker
- Nov 4
- 5 min read
Interview with Katie Bonadies, November 2025
Lucy Pearl Stafford is a clay, textile, print, and soil artist who has been a RWS member since July 2024. Lucy’s process is informed by the materials they use–that’s why they work in so many different mediums. They work in craft mediums that translate into practical skills like sewing, making dishes, growing food and herbs, and print as an accessible way to spread information quickly. Their practice is very much of the moment and in dialogue with their emotional state.
Lucy enjoys letting the material have a voice in the making. They like to explore the materials, touch them, and think about where they came from. They prefer material that is used or found in nature like rocks and wild clay because they already have a story, a history that’s connected to its environment. A blank page feels stressful to them and creativity becomes easier within these confines.
They recently completed a solo exhibition of their work, “Home Alone”, at 82Parris in Portland. One of the textile pieces in the exhibit was a comforter that had ceramic shards sewn into it. An object meant for comfort became completely unusable for its intended purpose. This wasn’t something Lucy considered while making the piece; it was their subconscious at play, creating an uncomfortable quilt. The installation also included a hand-sewn tent made of upcycled clothes that sheltered their ceramic work. Using color and fabric and lamps in the installation made the gallery space feel more comfortable, kind of like a house.
Houses are a recurring theme for Lucy and have been for many years. “It felt interesting to explore that because I never questioned why.” When it started, drawing homes felt cute because they evoke warmth and comfort, and they are a familiar object. When Lucy started digging into why the motif was important to them, they discovered that it comes from a complicated place. Lucy grew up in Santa Cruz, CA in a house built by their dad. “I think of home as this site of dissonance. From the outside my life looked normal and healthy and perfect.” But that wasn’t Lucy’s experience. Lucy had a lot of mental health issues that weren’t addressed until they were an adult and Lucy addressed them themself. What Lucy drew on the ceramics in the show was their subconscious dreams about the homelife they wished they had experienced and hoped to cultivate in their current and future community.
Building community is a form of activism for Lucy. “People are looking for community, especially now. Being home alone can be really nice and sweet and feel freeing, and I think so many people are isolated in their homes, and it’s this safe place but it’s also a barrier.” They question whether activism has to emulate capitalism through burn out. Lucy envisions a space that’s a microcosm of the world where people appreciate nature and connection, where authenticity and beauty are motivators instead of guilt.
Lucy Pearl Stafford. Unkept Home. 2025. Clay, thread, wire. Photo credit: Ernest Braun and Lucy Pearl Stafford.
Lucy Pearl Stafford. Open Home. 2025. Clay, Gorilla Glue, rose thorns. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Lucy is inspired by paying attention to their life and has been doing a lot of nature journaling lately. They sit in the park to try to get an accurate snapshot of the complexities of their surroundings. They record human things as well as natural elements that are part of the ecosystem like a cigarette butt or candy wrapper. “You see so much from sitting. I think that came from wanting to make sure I stay in love with the world and keep fighting for it and not lose hope.” They also work as a landscaper, which provides a place to observe and grow plant material that becomes fiber. The soil feels akin to clay, and it makes them feel more connected to the beginnings of these materials, “...like stewarding their sustainability.” This attention to the unseen shows up in the tiny details of their work.
Being an artist can feel like a constant battle between ‘look at me’ and ‘don’t look at me’. “Look at the art,” says Lucy. “Home Alone” depicted the vulnerable experience of their traumatic childhood. Putting on the show was equally exciting and scary for Lucy, to put their work–and by extension themselves–in public view. Lucy was worried everyone was going to judge them and think that they were horrible and self-indulgent but engaging with the people who were interacting with the work made them hopeful because Lucy learned that many people feel similarly. It made them feel closer to their community and freer to connect with people. “I thought, ‘Here is this thing about me that no one is ever going to accept, and it was fine.’ Nobody cared. It was great.”
Making art gives Lucy a sense of full autonomy, and they enjoy the capability of their body to make beautiful things. It’s how they communicate the ‘weird internal experience’ they’re having and it's a way of distancing that communication from themselves. “I’ve externalized this feeling and now I feel a validity in it, and other people can connect with it, but I don’t have to say it to someone.” Articulating their feelings is easier than sitting and feeling. The art-making process gets them out of their head. The flow state for Lucy is when they’re finally not thinking and just let the art happen. What Lucy finds beautiful about the art is that it makes them feel good, which is a hard feeling for them to experience. It’s contentment, not to think.
Lucy Pearl Stafford. Home Alone. Installation at 82Parris. 2025. Mixed Media. Photo credit: Kat Miller.
Lucy Pearl Stafford. Home Alone. Installation at 82Parris. 2025. Mixed Media. Photo credit (detail): Kat Miller.
Lucy Pearl Stafford will be at the annual winter market in Waterford, Maine on Sunday, November 30, 2025 from 11 AM - 4 PM; the Bizarre Bazaar on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at St. Luke’s Church in Portland from 10 AM - 2 PM; and at the RWS Holiday Sale, December 12 - 14, 2025 (check the RWS website for details).
Contact Lucy Pearl Stafford and sign up for their newsletter by emailing lucypearlstafford@gmail.com. Check out their website, lucypearlstafford.com, and follow @lucypearlstafford on Instagram.
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