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Lauren Cole Abrams

Artist's Interview

How long have you been creating?: Seems like forever...I arranged my high school classes so that in my senior year I could be in the art room for four straight hours a day...that was heaven, and also the last time I did art purely for fun...Since then I've done graphic arts, trompe l'oeil painting on furniture, pottery, jewelry making and oil painting....I even painted dogs on tee shirts for a year to make money....and I've never regretted it...it may not be the fastest way to fame and fortune, but it sure beats waiting tables...

What is your medium of choice?: I love painting with oils, it's very satisfying....but each time I'm exposed to a medium I've never tried before the old juices start flowing...so it's hard to stay with one thing.

What are your motivations for creating?: Well, as I said, most of my life was spend making/trying to make a living doing art of some kind....but for pure pleasure, there's nothing like it....then of course there is the feedback when you have done something you are especially proud of....I always feel like I'm still the little girl running to her parents saying "look what I did, mom and dad!".

What other artists and movements inform your work?: I've always been drawn to Albrecht Durer and Vermeer's work....and other realists...the Pre Raphaelite movement was also a huge influence...as was the Photo Realist movement...but there were three people who influenced me the most and I consider them my mentors...Maury Hurt, Al Carroll and Bill Orr....three Central Florida artists who have been my mentors and friends since the early seventies.

What do you find stimulating right now? How does this influence your creative process?: Right now I'm doing a series of small painting of wooden finials I've collected over the years...I'm painting them in shadows with a few bright highlights and love the depth and richness of this type of low key painting, as well as the challange of depicting varioius texture like wood and metal... I'm also working with three dimensional polymer clay and moldmaking with cast resin to fashion various purse embellishments I've designed. I just can't seem to stay with one medium forever...I do love the variety of working in different mediums and techniques.

Read anything good lately?: I am embarrassed to say that I will read just about anything in print...my tastes range from pure trash to the classics...I just finished re readiing "Watership Down" by Richard Adams, one of my favorite books ever.

What are some of your artistic goals for the future?: I want to get my purseware business off the ground so I can spend more time painting.

What would you like your fellow EBSQ artists and collectors to know about you and or your work?: I used to worry that I didn't stay with one medium/technique to the exclusion of all others, but over time I've realized that I'm ok with it...I've enjoyed all stages of my career...graphic art, fine crafts, tromple l'oeil, painting vintage toys, sculpting purse handles...it's all art and it's all fulfilling