Artist Bio – Cara Lawson-Ball
Michigan artist Cara Lawson-Ball creates bronze sculpture and multimedia paintings inspired by her deep appreciation of the Great Lakes region and its inhabitants. Through the use of imagined line, strong color, and layered abstraction, her work invites viewers to linger in the wild places—both in the landscape and within ourselves.
Cara’s abstracted oil and cold wax paintings emerge from quiet, immersive experiences of hiking and canoeing in the northern United States. These works reflect a meditative connection to nature, where fleeting impressions of light and form become layered memory on Birch panels. Her bronze sculptures, by contrast, often focus on the theme of human connection, with a particular emphasis on community and inclusion.
For decades, Cara explored both the female form and native animals in her work, but her current practice reaches more broadly—toward inner landscapes, shared experience, and the restorative power of belonging.
Her award-winning work is included in private, public, and institutional collections throughout the U.S. and Canada, with commissions in numerous state, local, and private spaces. Cara earned a BFA in Sculpture from Indiana University, with additional study through the Oxbow School of Art affiliated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
