10 May Spring 23′ Artist Cloth by Local Artist Lauren Lee
We are proud to announce our Summer 23’ artist cloth by local artist Lauren Lee.
You’ll recognize her work from around the Valley via large scale murals and even a moving mural on a Life Water delivery truck! Check out her mural map to catch a glimpse of her work around town.
Lauren graduated in 2007 from Arizona State University with a Bachelors in Fine Art and from there went on to teach art for five years at The New School for the Arts and Academics in Tempe, Arizona. She currently is a full time freelance artist, dividing her time between gallery shows and murals. She has been featured on the cover of Echo Magazine as well as the cover of Java Magazine and named one of Phoenix’s Top 100 Creatives by the Phoenix New Times. With a history in theater and a former career teaching, Lauren also does public speaking on Women and the Arts as well as Emerging Public Artists.
Lauren ft. Thierry Lasry
We had a moment to sit down with Lauren and talk about her work, inspiration and aspirations.
UEC: Is there a piece that you’re most proud of doing? If so, what makes that special to you?
LL: One of my favorite paintings that I have painted is a piece called Bhagwan, which translates to “One in whom the Divine has been made visible”. This piece is special to me because the entire body of work I created to mantra, and it was a real synthesis of sound and sight. I hope to continue to merge the spiritual and the creative as I move forward as an artist.
UEC: If you were able to paint a mural anywhere in the world, where would it be?
LL: I would love to paint a mural in India, I feel like my content and aesthetic would be easily understood there. I am also very drawn to Mexico.
UEC: What inspires you most?
LL: I am most inspired by nature and color, shapes. Beyond that I find all of the arts very inspirational, dance, music, poetry, photography.
UEC: You used to work as an art teacher-what advice would you give to help aspiring creatives?
LL: I would suggest really immersing yourself in the arts, jump in. Do not limit yourself to one medium, explore and experiment. The first five years are exploration, I don’t suggest trying to sell your work before then, or if you do, don’t get too attached to outcomes. Compare yourself to people who are at the same amount of time, not age. Like if you’re forty and picking up a guitar for the first time, compare yourself to someone who has also been playing guitar for two weeks. Don’t compare yourself to the sixteen year old prodigy because they have probably been playing guitar for five years, so it’s not really an age thing. It’s a time practicing thing.
UEC: Are there other mediums you enjoy working with?
LL: As far as visual arts I oil paint and watercolor paint as well as my regular acrylic painting. I also collage and create digital art. My other loves are poetry, ceramics and photography. I am hoping to become a silversmith in the next five years and begin creating lines of stone and silver jewelry.
UEC: What are some of the ways that you push yourself in your art practice?
LL: I push myself by becoming more and more routine based. The creativity is easy for someone like me, the ideas are my nature, but routine is not. By creating habits, I can harness that creative power a little bit more effectively. My routine over the last couple of years is to go into my studio, put on a record (usually Bon Iver or Weyes Blood these days) and begin. Begin where I’m at, sketch, put down some paint. It’s when I avoid the studio, or only engage in low energy exchanges that I lose that opportunity to experience my creativity. I have to place myself in the way of the sacred, I have to create the ritual.
UEC: Favorite color palette/color combinations?
LL: Pinks are crown chakra activation, lavenders are third eye, I tend to stay in the jewel tones. There is a lot of vibrational frequency in vivids, I do love earth tones and camel colors as well. Neutrals.
UEC: If you could be an animal for a day, what would it be?
LL: I would be a horse, running.
UEC: If you could time travel and spend a month in any decade, what would it be and where would you go?
LL: I would love to travel back in time to the 1960’s hippie movement, and travel to India as many seekers did during that time. I would have loved to experience communal living and consciousness seeking.