Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

Words and photos: Helga Dalla www.g3photography.com.au

LAUREN MAREE EDMONDS is a 16 year old artist from Nambour on the Sunshine Coast, who has just completed year 10 at St John’s College and is already a star of the future art world.

Lauren has caused a buzz at Cooroy’s Butter Factory Arts Centre where her “Illusions” exhibition has been a virtual sellout. It continues until Jan 30.

I asked Lauren how she manages juggling school and her passion for drawing, she replied “I think I am lucky because I don’t mind school work and I even like doing assignments. I also finish a lot of my work at school so I do not get extra homework and I draw whenever I can. However, I believe this will change next year when I begin senior school where I probably will have less time to draw.”

Lauren’s favourite art medium is drawing with fine-point ink pens and using wet pastel and acrylic paint. Often inspired by songs by Pink Floyd and David Bowie, Lauren’s work comes directly from her imagination.

“I have always loved art and at the age of six I discovered a book on Picasso that my parents owned. I was fascinated by his artworks and to this day I find his works inspiring, particularly those that involve injustice. At the age of seven, I did a school assignment on him and created my ‘own’ Picasso inspired drawing.”

The exhibition represents her personal views on our contemporary society and the way it turns a blind eye to others in our community who feel isolated and alone. Lauren exhibits 11 evocative sketches depicting the plight of the homeless entitled Illusions – Beyond the Barbed Wire.

A strong commitment to social justice is vividly expressed through her art work. As a demonstration of this, Lauren is selling art packs through the exhibition, donating all profits to the St Vincent de Paul, Ozanam House Homeless Men’s Service in Nambour.

Ozanam House is a transitional crisis accommodation service. They provide crisis intervention, emergency accommodation, welfare support, case management and other assistance to men who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Since the age of 13 Lauren has had success, winning numerous art awards and competitions on the Sunshine Coast and has sold many of her works. “The first award I

won was in 2007, the Buderim Ginger Award for an Emerging young Artist at the Youth@Heart youth art competition.

In 2008 Lauren won a Queensland Youth Week Competition in the Junior Section with an animation she made with her drawings that highlighted the homeless issue in Australia. She also won an animation competition for the ABC TV program, Rollercoaster and received a $700 Bursary from the Fr Hefferan Awards for achievement in arts.

Lauren led a group to design and paint murals to put around their school. In 2009 Lauren also won the open student category in the Immanuel College Arts Festival.

Lauren strives to create images that are stirring, thought provoking and filled with

powerful human emotion. “I believe that art is a powerful tool of communication” she said, “and I want to use this to communicate the need for people in our society to recognise and act on social justice issues”.

I asked Lauren where she gets her ideas from. “My drawings can start in different ways, sometimes I have a fairly clear image and meaning in my head that seems to come from nowhere or from just a thought. Sometimes I can just start ‘doodling’ and a picture develops and a meaning and message comes to me as I

work on it.” “I have seen a positive response from those who

are visiting the exhibition. All of my works have been sold except for one. I am at the Cooroy Butter Factory on Saturdays and finding it interesting to see other’s responses and opinions when they look at my work.”

Top: emerging artist Lauren Maree Edmonds Centre: ‘Unwritten Memoirs of a Summer gone by’ Left: Cooroy Butter Factory Arts Centre – a sellout exhibition for Lauren