Born in 1944 in Budapest, Hungary, Gyöngy Laky is a sculptor and educator based in San Francisco, California. Known for using natural materials to create sculptures inspired by language, Laky also creates site-specific exterior installations around the world. She received her BA and MA from the University of California, Berkeley (1967 – 1971), working under influential textile artist and ACC Fellow Ed Rossbach. After completing her postgraduate study in India through the UC Professional Studies Program, Laky returned to Berkeley, where she founded Fiberworks Center for the Textile Arts in 1973. She became a professor at University of California, Davis, in 1978, and she taught fiber art and environmental design there until her retirement in 2005.

As chair of the Department of Art from 1995 – 1997, and throughout her time in the UC system, Laky incorporated activism into her work, creating coursework focused on environmental concerns in textiles and advocating for increased diversity among tenure-track faculty. Laky has exhibited internationally, and her work is represented within many public and private collections including the Museum of Contemporary Arts and Design in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Honors include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1976 and inclusion in the Smithsonian Institute’s Archives of American Art. Laky was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2008.