Lauren Lay

About the Artist

I grew up with a love of the arts. As a young girl I would stitch garments and accessories for my dolls. My sister and I would frequently draw classroom and other scenes on the same sheet of typing paper. She drew many desks and students and details quickly, while I hovered over the details of a single garment, carefully filling in the print on a skirt or dress of the one student I had managed to draw. Fast forward several decades and careers and my sister and I still seem to work in the same way. She will draw daily and then create a corresponding item in polymer clay within a day or two. I fondle fabric and beads and linger over painted fabrics. I once slow stitched four garments reflecting how the earth was clothed in each season (Couture Seasons) over the course of three years.  I am at heart a textile artist with a passion for bead embroidery. My other arts include mixed media work, acrylic and watercolor painting and clay work.  My formal education ended with a Doctor of Ministry in Arts and Theology. But as a lifetime learner, I have participated in many classes, retreats,conferences and workshops in the arts. Teaching is a large part of my art narrative. I've conducted many workshops, classes, and retreats related to the arts.     

Artist's Statement

My art is inspired by texture, color and story. Whether the art is as academic as responding to a biblical narrative or as whimsical as an exploration of the patterns of a button, there is a deliberateness of thought once the art process is underway. I tend to visit with my materials, rejecting or accepting a bit of painted fabric or a particularly fanciful thread in an effort to get the right mix for each piece. I find art making to be at once serious and playful, concentrated and meditatively distracting. For me, all of life is about observing, studying, and reflecting. My art comes from this immersion in the world and her people.