Lighthouse Lecture Series - Lauren Sinnott

Artist Statement:

Art is fun to look at but the story of why and how it exists can pull you deeper in. My life as a working artist has been filled with what people want in the modern era when photography abounds and nobody needs me to paint their portrait anymore. (Though some still do.) What are just a few of these commissions? Business signs and logos of course, but also tombstone design, a car hood ornament, the high school mascot of a grinning pirate painted on the gym floor, and an ornate baroque bathroom mural on the walls and ceiling of a tiny private bathroom.

Creative sewing adds another dimension, because people need stuff related to their clothes. Not so much new garments, since the global economy has rendered garments made by cheap labor overseas more affordable than anything produced here. On the other hand, I’m really in demand because fewer and fewer people know how to sew. I hem pants, but also did custom-made boxer shorts for a client who hates elastic. I’ll show you the most awesome ensemble I ever created (for my own wedding) as well as the Velvet Pelvis, a life-size, anatomically accurate female torso with removable parts made for a doctor to use with her patients. And there is the Velvet Vulva line of fine purses and other accessories for the enlightened boyfriend/husband, feminist, and psych professional market.

Come to the talk to see how, why and where these works came to be, including delivery on bikes by kids. See the most bizarre mistake I ever made in a painting, thankfully discovered in time! Find out how my posthumous portrait angel of a local surfer came home again and what happened to another of the goddess/angels on my own house that relates to the passing of my beloved mom, with whom all this artistry started.

Biography:

I am an artist, historian and former politician who loves western boots. My diverse portfolio is partly the result of making a living as an artist in the modern world. Before photography was invented, everyone would want me to create their image. Now, it’s really only dogs that people commission portraits of (half kidding). I once paid a vet bill with a mural of dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and mice.

It all started in Wisconsin’s dairyland, where I was raised by an artist mother and poet father. My mom supported us on graphic design, and as a toddler I worked at a little table alongside her. Our house was filled with paintings and books. It was the Age of Aquarius and I knew I was supposed to be at Woodstock, but it was impossible. I was ten. My senior year was spent as an AFS exchange student in Belgium, speaking only French and learning to take class notes in perfect outline form. I discovered the art of conversation, four-hundred year old homes and good coffee. Not to mention great beer! It was there that I felt the pull of an old culture living still where it had always been.

At Rice University in wonderfully hot Houston, I earned a BA and BFA in Art and French, then an MA in Art History. The subject of my Master’s thesis was a stroke of luck, a modest yet mysterious portrait of two men from Renaissance Venice in the Museum of Fine Arts. It is likely a double-portrait of the famous artist Giovanni Bellini, together with his long-time assistant, who painted the panel. The story blossomed again after new research led to my 2012 paper exploring whether the exalted painter and his head of studio were also secret lovers.

In 1999, my young sons and I left Texas and headed west in a school bus outfitted with beds and a woodstove. We lived in our bus for a year on a ridge above the south Mendocino coast. When we moved into Point Arena, I supported us with art. Jobs ranged from ornate murals to tombstone design and high school mascots on the basketball court floor. I sewed a life-size torso complete with female reproductive parts for a doctor. I created the Velvet Vulva line of purses for the feminist and enlightened market. I painted curbs and hemmed pants. Business signs and logos were a mainstay, including for my own business, above. My house was teeming with the boys and their friends, who sometimes made deliveries for me on their bikes. And yes, it’s full of paintings and books.

Point Arena’s population is only 465, but it is incorporated and has an elected government. This opened the door to my life in politics as City Council member and then Mayor. Point Arena is the seventh tiniest city in California, which meant the city staff was small and overworked, and our jobs as elected officials were large and unending. On top of legislative activity, we also had the tasks of employee hiring, evaluating, and firing. My university education did not cover employment law, human resources, transportation planning and environmental regulation, but professional development for this new position soon would. I dove into the work, which provided an avenue for achievement and was a perfect counterpart to art.

My career crown jewel, the huge historical narrative mural on the north wall of the Ukiah Valley Conference Center, is the result of these threads interweaving. I could use all those hours of life drawing, all of that house painting, my knowledge of narrative art through the centuries, and my experience working with the community in government. This is a public work for everyone
and about everyone. It contains over two-hundred portraits, and tells many stories of people who live here now. People can see why this art has meaning.

They understand the argument I once presented to a dear friend over dinner:

“You will be fascinated,” he was informed, looking doubtful as he questioned art history and the importance of such things. “History is to humanity as memory is to the individual,” I said. We are each of us walking backwards into the future, seeing only the present and past.
“Would you want to do that with your eyes shut?” My companion smiled, saw it was true, and ordered champagne, since he was about to hear what had been revealed by a Venetian inventory from 1569.*
*That the great collection of Gabriele Vendramin included a little box portrait of Giovanni Bellini with the portrait of his assistant Vittore on its cover, each depicted by the other.

See the whole mural project with the stories behind the portraits at www.historymural.com