By Michelle Hall

Spring 2023

Welcome to our first Artist Spotlight – a new column intended to highlight the amazing artists who live and work in the CH-EH community. The focus of our first spotlight is figurative painter Lauren Florence, who lives in Crown Heights with her husband, son and (very friendly) dog, Charlie.  On a cool early-spring day Lauren took a break from preparing for the upcoming Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts to sit down with Communications Committee member Michelle Hall and talk about her work.

About Lauren.

Lauren grew up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and moved to Crown Heights about 10 years ago.  She was  deeply influenced by the Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Refuge collection near Bartlesville during her formative years. (You can learn more about this museum and their world class art collection here:  https://www.woolaroc.org/. ) Despite not being allowed to take art classes as a child, Lauren pursued Textile Design in college, graduating from the University of Kansas with a BFA.  After a circuitous route  through a period of working with a friend and mentor in textile design (which she loved) and a stint working IT around the time of Y2K (which she liked less), she ultimately began her painting career in her early 40s, after taking a class with another local Oklahoma artist, Bert Seabourn, at the Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center.   

About her work.

Lauren’s training and experience in, and love of, textile design, and the influence the Woolaroc seem to  converge in her art.  Her paintings are bright and frequently combine vintage photographs or wildlife on a multi-layered, textured background.  She typically begins her paintings by selecting a vintage photograph that speaks to her.  She then layers on colors and creates textures, sometimes using the end of her paintbrush to “dig” into the paint.  Lauren outlines the subject of the painting  in chalk and then fills in around the outline.  She is drawn to vintage photographs because she likes to imagine the narrative behind them. Years ago, photographs were precious –cameras were cumbersome and expensive, and the subjects of these photographs often wore their best clothes for the special occasion being photographed.  As Lauren is painting she often asks “What’s going on in this photo?”  In her work, she reimagines the narrative and encourages the viewer to do the same. Some of her favorite subjects are cowgirls, bison and scissortails. She finds joy, especially, in photographs of the cowgirls. Lauren says “In older photographs, people rarely smiled. Yet, in most of the photographs of cowgirls, they are smiling in a huge way.”

Advice for aspiring artists.  

Lauren’s advice for anyone who wants to attempt making their own art is to “simply try. “

Recommendation for local art events.

Lauren recommends the following local OKC art events for folks who enjoy art, want to support artists in the community or who may be looking to expand or start their own art collection.

Artini

Oklahoma Visual Arts Commission (OVAC) 12x12 Art Fundraiser

Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts

Paseo Arts Festival

Lauren is a signature member of the Cowgirl Artists of America and was selected as the Allied Arts Workplace Giving Step Up Gift Artist for 2023.

You can check out her work on her website: https://www.laurenflorence.com/; on Facebook:  @LaurenFlorenceArt; and on Instagram: @lauren.florence.art.