While browsing the booths at Main Street Festival this year, I
stopped to admire some artwork and distressed frames by a local artist. As usual, I had two little boys in tow so I
got a card from the artist in the hopes to see more of her work,
undistracted. The card ended up in a
pile on my desk like so many others, and I just came across it a couple of
weeks ago. The artist’s name is Lauren Dunn, and I went onto her website to see
more of her art. To my surprise, her biography
read that she was from a small Mississippi delta town just like me. Of course, I quickly contacted her to set up
a time to meet and see the studio. In
just a few minutes of meeting with Lauren, I found out that she went to college
with my high school best friend. We’re in the same sorority, and we now go to
the same church. Needless to say, we
became fast friends!
Lauren’s Franklin in-home studio is filled with her beautiful
artwork. She uses the impasto technique
when painting. This technique is where paint is laid on an area of the surface very
thickly, usually thickly enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. When dry, impasto
provides texture, and the paint appears to be coming out of the canvas. Lauren
uses acrylic on wood panels, and many of her pieces are churches inspired by
her grandfather, a small town Mississippi preacher. Lauren also does commission work from
pictures. Because her paintings are on
wood panels, they can be displayed on their own. However, she makes unique distressed frames
that add even more artistic detail and interest to her work.
Lauren’s artwork can be found in Nashville at York and Friends Gallery and her frames are at Redo in Franklin and Hot Pink
in Brentwood. She also has artwork in
many other towns across the South and plans to expand. Meeting Lauren was such a pleasure, and I’m
so happy to know that there is another “delta girl” living right around the
corner!
Follow Lauren Dunn
on Facebook and visit her site at www.elledeestudio.com.
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