Lauren Sankey

At the age of eleven, Lauren created her first painting while studying with a woman who taught her the importance of what art can be and how it can shape your character. Lauren began to discover how to portray emotions through paintings or how color and value patterns can vastly change the mood of art. In her undergraduate studies at California Baptist University, her professors encouraged her to stretch herself through her work. Her thesis show, at the time of her graduation in 2017, focused on figurative paintings of women, each expressing their mental state through their body language. The people encouraging her throughout her undergraduate studies pushed her to pursue something more, which led to her pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at the Academy of Art University. Her Masters studies furthered her knowledge and confidence in painting the people around her.

Painting figures, specifically women, has become Lauren's fascination, sparking the fundamental question of how to truly capture the essence of another human being. What can be explored by painting them? How can one translate their personality through art? These questions she asks herself are answered through the process of her art. She paints family and friends through her own eyes to depict the likeness of the figures. She uses a strong background color (for example, red) to symbolize their strength. She hopes through her work she can represent the women around her that have encouraged her to become the women she is today.