Lauryn Welch is a longtime resident of the Monadnock Region, now currently based in New York City. She studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, and received her B.F.A. at SUNY Purchase College in 2015. In her paintings and installations, she explores how color and pattern are used on the body in conversation with one’s environment. Her current work takes a split approach between figure and landscape, and is heavily influenced by naturally occurring patterns in New England. Lauryn was the gallery manager at the New Hampshire Institute of Art Sharon Arts Gallery, and is a teaching artist and content developer for Art Prof, a free online education platform for the visual arts. Her work has been in exhibitions and publications nationally, including Art New England, New American Paintings, and the New York Times.
Lauryn will show a collection of bird-themed pieces during her Harris Center exhibit, which runs from December 4 to 26, 2019 in the Thelma Babbitt Room. She’ll hold an opening on Friday, December 6, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Artist Statement
I go to nature to source patterns and colors for my paintings. I’ve studied fish and flowers, rock formations and daylight, but my favorite subjects of all are the birds. Each bird is uniquely beautiful in its movement, coloration, and behavior, and I make marker drawings that try to capture these qualities. I have traveled around New Hampshire to see woodcocks, Nebraska to find sandhill cranes, and Arizona to catch a glimpse of California condors. Some species I’ve spent so much time with that they have developed personas. Geese of all kinds are wily troublemakers. Blue jays are socialites with group hierarchies. Ravens love to play games. Cardinals are romantics that go on chivalrous dates.
The birds in this exhibit are ones that I have seen while living in New England. Each drawing is developed from multiple sources. I work from life, photos, preserved birds, and drawings by other artists to create a full composition. I am inspired by the drawing collections of both Audubon and Hokusai, and am thankful for the resources of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Rhode Island School of Design Nature Lab, and of course Hancock’s own Harris Center for Conservation Education.
— Lauryn Welch
