Featured Artist:
Lauren Odell Usher

Lauren Odell Usher believes that everything matters. In her mixed-media artwork she explores the many layers of relationship; from the intimate to the unknown, human-to-human, past-to-present, and human-to-nature. Lauren's art expresses her thoughts and ideas about chaos and coincidence. From the extreme mundane activities of eating, sleeping and brushing one's teeth, to dramatic and historical events that centuries will continue to hear about, they all hold meaning. They are what connect us with one another—with our past and with the future.

In her most recently-completed project, I Am a Terrible Morning Person, Lauren explores her relationships with her family, best friends, and acquaintances while, at the same time, exploring her relationship with the materials she uses on a daily basis. This participatory project started with asking volunteers to take self-portraits at the moment they woke up in the morning. Lauren took those portraits, created linocut blocks and printed them on "canvas" she created from everyday objects.

I Am a Terrible Morning Person is Volume One of a three-volume set.  Lauren has begun the second chapter of this project exploring the past by using materials that have been used once before and imagery of people she has not and will not ever meet, both recognizable by the public and unfamiliar at first glance. To see the progress of this project please visit www.laurenusher.com