Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lauren Boilini. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lauren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
In early 2020, directly before the pandemic hit, my studio neighbor and frequent collaborator, Henry Cowdery and I installed a site-specific project at Oxbow in Seattle, WA. Henry and I met in 2016 working for the same large-scale sculptor, John Grade, fabricating a number of public art pieces together. We applied for a residency at Oxbow about nine months before our installation date, using the time leading up to it for fabrication. The residency itself was five weeks in length, and we spent almost every waking minute in the space. After working together for four years, day in and day out, problem solving the ever evolving challenges of large-scale sculpture, it was immensely rewarding to execute our own vision. The installation itself was a reimagining of a whale fall. When a whale dies it falls to the floor of the ocean and decomposes, becoming food for countless organisms, similar to the nurse logs we see here in the Pacific Northwest. We wanted this immersive installation to be something our viewers could enter into and experience as if they were walking onto the sea floor, surrounded by death providing new life. We called the show “Underbelly”. As a designer and sculptor, Henry drew models of new species of fish, crab and isopods, printing them on his 3D printer, casting the positives with silicone, and then filling the negatives with a mixture of recycled paper pulp (blow-in insulation) and wax. We spent months casting these creatures, dying them different colors, creating a menagerie of decaying sea life. Once we entered the space at Oxbow, I constructed a false floor, painting it and the walls to create an elaborate underwater atmosphere. We suspended the hundreds of fish from wire grids on the ceiling and began fabricating a paper-maché whale directly in the space, enlisted/enlisting a couple of friends to assist. Throughout the residency period we had open studio hours, where anyone from the community could enter and watch us work. After five weeks, the piece was complete. We had a closing reception and removed the entire installation the next day.
This turned out to be one of the last things we would do as a community since the pandemic hit not long after and we all needed to remain isolated. At the end of that challenging year, Henry and I were reunited with our whale, which we brought to the beach during the Winter solstice, lit it on fire and watched it burn down to ash on the sand.
I learned a tremendous amount from this collaborative project and I enjoyed every minute of it. Henry and I still see each other every day and hope to work on something new soon.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I was born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana. I received my B.F.A. in Painting and Art History at the Kansas City Art Institute and my M.F.A. at the Maryland Institute College of Art. As a painter I also work in installation and public art, completing exhibitions and projects up and down both coasts. Traveling to and participating in artist residencies have been an important part of my practice. I have served as an artist-in-residence at Can Serrat in Spain, Jentel Arts in Wyoming, Soaring Gardens in Pennsylvania, the Studios of Key West, the Creative Alliance and School 33 Art Center in Baltimore, and as a Consortium Resident at the Studio Art Centers International (SACI) in Florence, Italy. I was invited as an artist-in-residence to the Burren College of Art in Ireland and received a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center in 2012. I have completed public art projects for the Maryland Department of Public Health and the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport. In 2016 I was awarded a grant to publish a book of drawings and spent the summer of 2019 as an artist-in-residence at MASS MoCA working on the sequel, which I completed for a solo exhibition at Furman University in South Carolina in 2020. In the winter of 2022 I opened a solo exhibition at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma and began work on the third in a trilogy of artist books this past spring while artist-in-residence at Amazon’s headquarters. This fall I worked with the Open AIR program in Montana as the first artist-in-residence at the Missoula Butterfly Museum. I am looking forward to a residency on Vashon Island, WA, in the summer of 2024, and was recently awarded a fellowship from the McMillen Foundation.
In addition, I currently teach studio art and art history at The Evergreen State College. Collaborations with a number of different artists in my close-knit community have been vital to the development of my work and I look forward to future opportunities to expand that practice. I am also a marathon open water swimmer and with my immediate family close by, I love to call Seattle home.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
As an educator, I feel strongly that I should pay it forward by making the professional parts of being an artist more transparent, so I have been teaching portfolio development and professional practices courses to high school and college students for many years. We use Art/Work: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career Heather by Darcy Bhandari & Jonathan Melber as a textbook but I also recommend a number of other books such as The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing by Gigi Rosenberg, The Artist’s Guide to Public Art: How to find and win commissions by Lynn Basa, and The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for Life by Twyla Tharp. I also send my students to Making Your Life as an Artist (& Workbook) byAndrew Simonet because it is also available for free online, along with Springboard for the Arts as an amazing free resource for building a small business.
I also love podcasts, so I recommend my students listen to https://centrum.org/artists-in-place/on-a-i-r, https://beyondthe.studio, https://museumofnonvisibleart.com/interviews/, https://www.perceivedvaluepodcast.com and https://www.studionoizepodcast.com as great ways to passively gain information and experience.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I have developed a love for buying art myself, so I highly recommend people take the leap and just do it! There is no downside. It’s immensely rewarding and empowering, both for you as the collector and the artist. I am working on building a practice of purchasing a piece from an artist each time I, myself, make a big sale.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laurenboilini.com
- Instagram: @laurenboilini
Image Credits
Winifred Westergard