Benjamin Lambert

My hand-built ceramic sculptures take the form of stylized figures and animals that reflect uncanny relationships between humans and the natural world. Rooted in Maine, where I was raised, my work is influenced by the state’s rivers, wildlife, and environmental histories. Through distortion, abstraction, and dark humor, these clay figures can function as warnings—revealing uncomfortable realities beneath their often playful surfaces. Drawing from the humor and expressive qualities of Funk ceramics, alongside pop-cultural and religious conventions, I use humor to draw viewers toward the more serious environmental concerns embedded in the work.

My current work considers migratory fish species and the fragile conditions that shape their movement, survival, and return. I grew up beside a 14-mile, impounded stretch of the Androscoggin River in Maine—a river that has been partially revitalized but still relies on an oxygenation plant to support healthy oxygen levels. Living near a waterway both recovering and still on life support has made environmental change feel personal, ongoing, and complicated.

The migrations of fish through altered river systems offer a framework for thinking about obstruction, adaptation, and interdependence. In my sculptures, fish and human-like characters inhabit strange, humorous, and sometimes unsettling situations that reflect the conflicts surrounding restoration, industry, habitat, and care. By researching environmental problems alongside models for repair, I build a cast of characters that asks viewers to consider how human activity changes a river’s ecology, and what forms of care and restoration might allow life to persist.