When I moved here in September 2010, I never dreamed I would become a 2-D soft pastel artist. Or a 2-D artist of any kind! I visited “the club” to find put if they recognized basketry as an art form.
Because that’s what I was, a Basket weaver! I was given an unequivocal “Yes”.

The club offered all kinds of classes and I decided to do all of them. When I took a charcoal class, I found that I had permission and loved getting “dirty”! A fellow member then guided me toward pastels …. And the rest is history….

That is what the club does so well….teaches, guides, encourages, and supports creativity in the arts.

Bio
I’m Lauri Harrington and I began painting in earnest about four years ago. I have always been a bit creative and when I was a young girl, my father brought home telephone wire for us to play with. I made an entire farm of horses and people out of that wire, using yarn as the horses tails. I went on to drawing horses from there.

As an adult, I enrolled in the fine arts program at a college in Traverse City, Michigan, taking drawing, design and pottery. I realized that becoming an artist was probably not the path to riches for me so I turned to getting a business degree. After moving to Colorado, the beautiful scenery inspired me to take up the arts again and I began taking pottery classes in Boulder and Golden, CO. Then after retiring in Colorado, I began sketching again and also took up making landscape quilts.

Since moving to Wickenburg, I have taken watercolor (my first love), acrylic and oil painting classes. I have been juried into the Wickenburg Art Center for mixed media and have exhibited in a number of shows there.

Now, I often find myself watching and practicing watercolor techniques on YouTube. It’s an interest rabbit hole that I throughly enjoy. I am currently working on a landscape quilt of aspen trees and preparing for upcoming shows at the Wickenburg Library and Wickenburg Art Center.

I am a recent transplant to Arizona, and I love it! I have always lived “up north” and worked in several different genres that mostly represented the area in which I dwelled, but I have always been drawn to the art and warm colors of the Southwest.

This move has inspired me to experiment with a new genre – metal embossing. By using various metal foils such as copper, aluminum and brass, I emboss them with a multitude of patterns using a rolling press, and color with alcohol inks.

Once dried and stabilized with a protectant coat, I then cut them into various sizes and shapes to achieve my design.

The mosaic pieces are somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle – I quit to design it and make sure all the pieces fit perfectly. Some of my work will incorporate leather and glass tile beads to achieve a multi-dimensional look.

“Art is spiritual for me and brings me a great fulfillment , which I hope is reflected in my work.”

Bio

Carol has always been a creator, starting with sewing doll clothes and then designing and sewing her own clothing. Over the years she has used a variety of mediums with her creative artwork. Her expressive voice is currently through leather.
Her passion is to sculpture free-form leather vessels, she works with a variety of leathers and embellishments’ for designing her artwork. The vessels are made from vegetable-tanned leather and are truly a one-of-a-kind creation. The leather has the longevity and beauty only an artisan-created product can sustain. The original fibers of the animal’s hide add to its character making each piece unique along with her addition of dyes, stains and paints.
Carol graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a teaching degree, majoring in photojournalism. Upon graduation, her career in the hospitality industry started in Nebraska and crisscrossed the US several times, working for many major hotel companies as well as independent resorts landing in Scottsdale in 1992.

Artist Statement

Leather inspires me since it offers many possibilities with the different textures and finishes. My vision of how the leather wants its history and story represented is reflected and carried forward in my artwork. At times the hides seem to speak to me on how they want to be portrayed from an artistic viewpoint.
I hand select each vegetable tanned leather hide embracing all the holes, markings and texture knowing the original fibers of the hide add character. These unique features are purposely worked into the artwork creating interest and a focal point. This leather has the longevity and beauty only an artisan-created product can sustain.
Each vessel is hand sculpted using a wet free-form molding process and dried naturally. My selection of stains, dyes and special finishes makes my one-of-a-kind leather vessels unique.
My greatest joy comes from seeing the finished pieces since no two leather hides are exactly alike because each has a different history.