23 June 2008

Lauren Camp

Lauren Camp (Courtesy of the artist)

(The following article is taken from the U.S. Department of State publication, Art on the Edge: 17 Contemporary American Artists.)

Just Swing, 2001 (Courtesy of the artist, Santa Fe, New Mexico)

"Why do I make art about jazz? Because I love the way the music makes me feel.

I am intrigued by the complete sound that comes from several instruments collaborating. I love the education I've gotten from listening and reading and looking with a critical ear and eye. When I listen, I hear colors and shapes. The sounds I hear are the designs I make with my threadwork. The colors I hear sometimes take my breath away. I like the friction of the colors and the way they sparkle like the music. My art form gives me a way to "play" what I hear – a chance to doodle and delight.

When you think about it, jazz is just like me – creative, improvisational, sometimes moody, sometimes whimsical, curious, demanding, constantly in motion, roots in the blues but head in the clouds, fearless, fanciful, free."

[Lauren Camp (b. 1966, New York, New York) attended Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts (MA 1990), and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (BS 1988). She is a poet and writer, as well as a visual artist, and often can be found on the airwaves of New Mexico's public radio stations playing jazz music. Her award-winning fiber pieces are housed in many public collections, including St. Vincent Children's Hospital, Indianapolis, Indiana; and the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her work has been exhibited in performance spaces, cultural centers, and museums in the United States and Europe, including solo shows at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden, Colorado (2004); the Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico (2002); and Thirteen Moons Gallery, Santa Fe (1999). Camp lives and works in a small town outside of Santa Fe.]