“Lauren Marie Taylor’s portraits seem motivated by the pixelated and graphic textures of the teenage style that she comes into contact with in her personal relationships and professional life as a high school teacher.”

Rita Gonzalez, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

“Her current work in portraiture is really fresh and clever but solidly grounded by expert pencil work and a sophisticated color sense. She handles her subjects with warmth and sensitivity and as as the viewer I feel as intimately connected to them as to characters in a familiar story.”

Johanna Sourbeer, Owner, Tyson Gallery, Portland, OR

I have been working with teenagers for eight years, first at the Department of Corrections and now as an art teacher. Much of my work today comes out of conversations that make us laugh and cry, allow us to be our real selves, talk about things that we don’t get to talk about, and think about things that we never thought of before. We address issues of violence, abuse, drugs, gangs, culture, racism and the artistic process. Many of my students were not born in our region, or even in this country, and so together we explore the feeling of trying to maintain the roots we do not fully embrace while yearning for acceptance within a community with which we do not fully identify. The children are in the process of articulating their individuality apart from their families at the same time, and so our classroom becomes an alternative family with its own values and beliefs. Through art, we are attempting to form a new and hybridized culture, bridging these differences and creating an original and beautiful civilization that will make us proud.

Born 1978, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

2000 B.F.A, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/ Tufts Univ.

2005 M.Ed, Arts, Portland State University

2008Tyson Gallery, Everett Station, Portland, OR

  Portland Art Open, Public Installation, 6 Locations

2007Igloo Gallery, Everett Station, Portland, OR

  TB:A, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, OR

  Pushdot Studio, Portland, OR

Mississippi May, Portland, OR

Hostess Gallery, Portland, OR

Rake Gallery, Everett Station, Portland, OR

2006Steve Ochs Gallery, Everett Station, Portland, OR

2005The Basement, Local 1028, Portland, OR

Couch Gallery, Everett Station, Portland, OR

2004Shotgun House, Portland, OR

Space Gallery, Austin, TX

  HI FI Lab, Austin TX

Autzen Gallery, Portland, OR

Publications:

2008New American Paintings

2006Sedition Magazine

Collections:

Eric Kellogg Jr., New York, NY