Bio

Lauren Braun is an artist and arts administrator.  In the mornings, Braun works out of her tiny home studio, dubbed the green room, as it is painted a spring green color, where she creates paintings and drawings, collages and staged photography.  In the afternoons, she works as an assistant for JFilm: The Pittsburgh Jewish Film Forum. 

Braun received a MFA in studio art from the Museum School in Boston and a BFA cum laude from Syracuse University where she studied Art Photography.

Some of her favorite things include: perusing farmers markets, traveling, visiting the ocean, spending time with family and cooking for friends, dark chocolate, good coffee, and fantastic books.  She grew up in Buffalo, NY, which is an awesome city of artists and gardeners among other things. 

Read more here.

Artist Statement

One of the most profound statements a professor in college ever said to me is that I am a linear person.  He did not mean that I am a linear thinker (which I am not) but that I am visually attracted to linear patterns and shapes.  At the time, he observed that even my ensemble was all patterns (striped pants, lined shirt, and short dark hair bleached with swirl-y lines).

The way that I see the world and translate it into my artwork is heavily based on line, color and pattern.  I’m greatly inspired by gardens, interior and Japanese design, cities and urban planning, and the brightly colored collages made by visionary architects of the 60’s.  I use magazine and newspaper images that I’ve collected over the years as source material to fuel my work.

My work incorporates mixed media such as colored pencil, gouache, pen and ink, charcoal and collaged layers of paper.  One of my rules as an artist is that if I’m working on something and I make a mistake, I collage right over that spot.  This creates an interesting pieced together look on the surface of the work and gives it a built-in creative history. 

I consider my work a combination of drawing, collage and sculpture and I enjoy blurring the boundaries of each of these processes.  It’s akin to fitting together the pieces of a puzzle.  I want you as the viewer to wonder how the layers and collage elements all came together and be a little bit mystified by the process.