We were lucky to catch up with Lauren Rosenberg recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lauren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
Through experimentation, I’ve been able to expand beyond the traditional paths of offering my original oil paintings and giclée prints solely as a means to decorate walls. I’ve explored and discovered new ways for admirers of my work to become collectors of my art in unexpected ways.
Throughout this journey, I’ve discovered that my paintings and designs are bringing joy and delight when they’re translated onto apparel and various household items. By curating collections of my work on wearable and home products, I’m introducing more people to my work, and therefore new people are becoming new collectors of mine in unique and unexpected ways.
Seeing my art on plates, napkins, tablecloths, and glasses, for instance, is for me a wonderful experience, highlighting the versatility of my creativity. It’s heartening to know that my designs can breathe life into mundane objects like shower curtains, beach towels, or doggie beds, with each one suddenly contributing to the ambiance of a space as much as a painting or print might!
When my art is featured on dresses, camisoles, or pajama shirts, they become wearable works of art, offering something truly unique and special for my collectors to wear. This fusion of my art and fashion allows each piece to be a fashion statement, and at the same time, an expression of their individuality.
Creating these items from my original paintings and designs is absolutely exciting for me. Each time I create a new piece, it holds the promise of innovation and surprise, and it makes the whole creative process endlessly rewarding. I’m having the best time creating new Collections and products!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I suppose you can say that I was born to be an artist, because as far back as I can recall and as long as I had a pencil or crayon in my hand, I was drawing. In fact, when I was a child and we lived in NY I remember saying to my mother, “When I grow up, I want to be ‘a’ artist.” And so, I drew. I drew free-flowing and colorful, whimsical and fantastical totem-like poles – straight out of my uninhibited, childlike imagination.
Formal education in the arts solidified my path. Years spent studying at esteemed institutions like the California College of Arts & Crafts (CCAC) broadened my understanding of various mediums and techniques, namely figurative sculpture in clay; chiseling in soapstone; woodcarving on the lathe; silver jewelry fabrication; life drawing; and a lot of fascinating art history courses. I was immersed! Yet, I realized as any sensible student knew who was about to be untethered from college and released into the “real world”, that there were few, if any, want ads for fine artists. I had to get real and face facts. I needed a “real job” in the real world.
It seemed logical that I would follow in my mother’s famous footsteps and study Interior Design, eventually earning a BS in Interior Architecture from ASU. Upon graduation, I moved to San Francisco, where I worked with architectural firms as an Interior Designer on large, high-profile projects including the American Airlines Admiral Club and the Dean Witter Reynolds Western Headquarters at 101 California.
But deep down, it was art that truly resonated with me. Anyone who knew me understood that being an artist was at the core of who I was – and am. It wasn’t just a hobby; it was what made me feel most alive. So, whenever I had a moment to spare, I would be pouring my heart into new creations. Eventually, I even taught myself to paint in oil, adding another level to my artistic journey.
Back in my hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona, a pivotal moment occurred with the passing of Andy Warhol. It sparked a fire in me, and I was driven to become the next “portrait artist to the stars”. I set out on a mission to paint larger-than-life canvases of icons like Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Demi Moore, and Daryl Hannah. This was in the days before personal computers were common, so I vividly remember carrying my paint chips from my interior design resource library to the city library. There, I meticulously matched the skin tones and eye colors of these famous faces, determined to capture their exact essence in oil on canvas.
In time, I received prestigious commissions painting portraits, and I made a nice living as a portrait painter of families, children, animals, and commissions in permanent corporate collections.
Ironically, it was the demands of the portrait painting business that eventually drained my creative spirit. Constantly painting to fulfill clients’ expectations left me feeling disconnected from my own artistic vision. So, I made the difficult decision to step away from my brushes and “close shop” for several years.
However, the urge to paint never truly left me. It resurfaced unexpectedly one day when I came across a small painting of a bird by Fritz Scholder owned by my girlfriend. Inspired by its simplicity, I felt a familiar spark ignite within me. “I can paint something like that,” I thought to myself.
That’s how my journey back into painting began, starting with birds becoming my muse. Still licking my wounds from years before, I felt that I needed to take it slowly at first. And, before I knew it, one bird became two, and within a year, I had painted an entire Collection of Wild Birds, all of which are small canvases that I purposely hoped would be hung by my collectors in groupings, because they really are so lovely when hung together. And they look great when the giclée prints are blown up large and individually hung, too.
One day, I was playing around and became curious about how one of my floral paintings, “Blooming Forsythia,” would look on a mug. To my amazement, the oil painting wrapped around the mug beautifully, making the mug look like no mug I had ever seen! This sparked my interest, leading me to wonder how my very modern abstract painting, “Kinetic Energy,” would look on, say, a shower curtain. Again, I was blown away by the result!
This opened up a whole new avenue of exploration for me. I began to experiment with my various paintings on items like dresses, skirts, and hats; to dishes, placemats, and towels; to beach chairs, beach towels, umbrellas, and more. Each time, I was pleasantly surprised by how well my original art translated onto a variety of cool products. It’s been quite a revelation!
So, this has been my journey. This is what lead me to opening an online store where I show and sell my artwork. And it’s here where people collect my art not only for their walls, but also for their stylish apparel, and for a whole array of beautiful household items.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
During the 11 years I lived in Santa Monica, CA, I would often go hiking up Temescal Canyon. On one solo Sunday, I strayed from my usual path and opted to turn left and ascend the mountain instead descending the mountain, which would be my typical route. However, what began as a spontaneous decision soon turned into a daunting trek that I would come to deeply regret.
As I trudged along the winding path, doubts crept in because what began as an adventure suddenly felt to be an infinitely too long and winding road to where, I couldn’t tell. To make matters more challenging, my WIFI dropped, leaving me feeling very alone. So many times, when it seemed like I was about to reach the peak and the path down, the path up kept going up with no end in sight. Many times, I asked myself if I should just turn around and head back down — after all, wouldn’t that be the easiest? But each time I told my lonely self in the total silence that at any moment I could suddenly reach my destination. I told myself that if I turned back all that effort I put in would be lost.
Because I am always looking for “a sign from above” I saw this as a symbolic message that I should not give up on this hike, and I should also not give up on what I was so diligently working on at that time that was challenging me. Ultimately, I’m glad I stayed the course, both in climbing the mountain and overcoming the business challenges, because in the end, I reached the summit of both — and the rest was downhill.
The moral of this story is that challenges and unknowns will arise, that’s a given. Without a crystal ball to predict the future, we’re all bound to encounter hurdles along the way. The key is to remain resilient, have faith in the process, and stay committed to our goals, trusting that the path will lead us where we need to go.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
During my time as an interior designer in Phoenix, my projects spanned private residences, model homes, offices, lobbies, and even sets for television and film. It was while working on these sets that I cultivated relationships within the local TV and film communities.
One memorable opportunity arose when a producer from a TV show called Southwest Styles, for which I had designed a set, invited me to be a guest on the show. Using southwest-style furniture, they wanted me as an Interior Designer to furnish a make-believe home in middle of the desert using the desert landscape as walls and rooms. Walking the host throughout the “home” on camera was great fun and it turned out to be a spectacular segment, one that goes down in the history books. It was this experience that ignited my passion for being in front of the camera, that would set the stage for many more media appearances to come.
Years later, while living in Santa Monica, I developed a product inspired by my mother’s bestselling book, Color Your Life: How To Design Your Home With Colors From Your Heart. Called the “Elaine Ryan Home Decorating Kit: Transform Your Home From Nice To Knockout!” the Kit soon found its way onto the shelves of The Home Depot. To promote it, I happily made many guest appearances on various TV and Internet shows, including Extra TV, Good Day LA, and SheKnows.com.
And then, for a year leading up to Covid, my mother and I hosted a podcast we called, “Elaine Live & Lauren, Too!” What began as a way I could make her dreams come true, as she had always wanted her own radio show, became a mother/daughter podcast series focusing on “relationships,” my mother’s favorite topic. I was her co-host, and I also produced and wrote the show, booked the guests, pitched the sponsors, and wrote and voiced their radio spots. I was most definitely in my happy place.
So, being in front of the camera or behind a mic has since become my most fun and comfortable place for me to be. In fact, I’ve never met a camera or a mic I didn’t love!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.laurenrosenberg.store
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenrosenberg.store/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095140225814
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenrosenberg/
Image Credits
Lauren Rosenberg