{"id":269,"date":"2015-04-07T05:23:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T05:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/?p=269"},"modified":"2024-03-24T05:25:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-24T05:25:51","slug":"its-a-whimsical-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/?p=269","title":{"rendered":"IT\u2019S A WHIMSICAL LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Coiled”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist Laurelin Gilmore showcases the beauty of everyday with unexpected imagery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sacramento has always wanted to be a primary market, but as far as attendance at art and music gatherings go, has been a tertiary market at best. In the last decade, however, artists like painter\/sculptor\/illustrator Laurelin Gilmore have managed to eke out a living doing what they love most: working full-time on art. Not only is Gilmore an artist on the rise, she has won several awards and the approval of many fans and venues alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On any given day during the traditional Monday-through-Friday work week, you can find Gilmore holding court at Verge Center For The Arts (625 S Street, Sacramento), working on her craft. Because her rent is manageable, she is able to have a space away from her home in North Sacramento, where she currently resides with her husband and 8-year-old daughter who she says is \u201ca better artist than I was at her age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing an artist is not a self-sufficient entity and my husband does need to work,\u201d Gilmore recently said in a telephone interview. \u201cHowever, it is my full-time job and I spend about five hours a day in the studio and have 24-hour access to come and go as I please. It\u2019s great to have somewhere to go and create if I feel the desire late at night. On weekends, I usually spend my time with my family unless I have a show somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the uninitiated, Gilmore\u2019s work is highly colorful, whether she\u2019s doing drawings, paintings or three-dimensional sculptures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been drawing as long as I could hold a crayon,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to quantify how many drawings or handmade pieces I\u2019ve made over the years, but drawing was my first love. Up until 1998, I was strictly a pencil, graphite, chalk and charcoal artist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilmore says it was \u201cjust kind of a natural extension from hand drawings to expand and add texture and form\u201d when she began painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m still an advocate of drawing in its primitive and primary form, however.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is one medium that Gilmore doesn\u2019t excel in. \u201cI don\u2019t do very well with colored pencil,\u201d Lauren admits. \u201cUsing a colored pencil creates too fine of a line. If you cover a large area with colored pencil, you lose immediacy in the piece and it takes much more time. Rather than drawing a sky with colored pencils as a medium which can take hours, painting is far more expressive and, similarly, more colorful to view.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her artist\u2019s statement, Gilmore says her subject matter \u201ccan be somewhat varied, but the human figure has always been my touchstone. My goal is to record on the paper or canvas as well I can the beauty of everyday through realism, surrealism and fantasy. My art looks at the place where separates meet, and explores through fantasy the experience of the would-be fence sitters as go-betweens, translators, and bridges between perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilmore admits the collection she\u2019s preparing for her show in September is one she\u2019s \u201cmost excited about and terrified of creating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the most personal art I\u2019ve ever made,\u201d she says. \u201cI am painting my experience as a person living with vitiligo\u2026a skin condition that turns patches of skin white. I am using as models a couple of people who also have the condition and using myself as well to explore it as something beautiful and strange and strangely beautiful, I guess. Reactions span the spectrum, so I look forward to engaging viewers in a discussion on the topic that is motivated by seeing me and mine in a different light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilmore\u2019s 20-plus-year tenure in the Sacramento Valley has garnered her fans, accolades and an appreciation for the Sacramento art community. She earned degrees in Fine Arts and Library Sciences from Sacramento City College and soon put down roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince I once lived in San Francisco, I always thought I could someday return there,\u201d she says. \u201cI have lived in Sacramento for over 20 years and it\u2019s very affordable. In San Francisco or the Bay Area, there is a lot of competition in the artist community. Here in Sacramento, however, it feels much more like a tight-knit community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her tenure in that community begins with her very first sold drawing at a Sacramento City College art show (for which she still holds the $20 check \u201cfor posterity\u201d), and continues with a stint at Gallery 2110 inside the Sacramento Art Complex, as well as entries in prominent shows. From 2012 to 2014, Gilmore had a studio space at Gallery 2110, where she earned commissions from several walk-ins. Though she loved the exposure, the downside was the 2nd Saturday traffic being able to see \u201cthings that were still in their creative womb,\u201d she says. \u201cI would often have a couple of easels up and people [would<\/em>] see pieces in their infancy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilmore\u2019s Self Portrait with Olivia<\/em> drawing, of herself holding her infant daughter, was accepted to the 2007 California State Fair and sold. In 2013, Gilmore\u2019s Coiled<\/em> painting won Best in Show at the Sacramento Fine Art Center 2013 Animal House<\/em> exhibit. \u201cThis is no small thing since there were some incredibly talented artists showing there,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilmore is looking to geographically spread her wings, and is on the hunt for more shows. But she\u2019s calculatingly realistic about the prospects. \u201cLast year I told myself I wanted to show in Los Angeles and New York and I did manage to get the former done,\u201d she says. \u201cI also want to do New Orleans and New Mexico. Basically, I\u2019ve been looking for shows that I can drive to since you usually have to pay a fee to be curated, the gallery takes a percentage of any sales made, and it costs a lot to ship to out-of-town galleries. I decided I would only do shows that I could drive to unless there was something amazing like an international offer or something major that I couldn\u2019t pass up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making a living is a struggle when you\u2019re a local artist, and for the most part, you either sell at one of your residencies or through constant word of mouth in the artist community. Gilmore, however, is optimistic about using cyberspace to boost her sales and maintain a semi-steady flow of income. She plans to open an online store connected to her website (Laurelingilmore.com<\/a>) and branch out to other social media sites including Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not as active on the internet as I should be and stopped blogging a while back,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd while I do believe in artists telling their own experience, I just never really kept it up. Social media from my Facebook page has been a great way to get the word out, however, about shows and pieces I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who chose the uncertain path of being a full-time artist, it always helps to have a support system whether family, friends, or colleagues in her field. When pressed whether family has encouraged and acknowledged her chosen path as a legitimate one, Gilmore was quick to reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the questions many people ask me,\u201d she says. \u201cThe fact remains that nobody ever told me to stop. My mother, husband, brother and two older sisters were always supportive of my endeavors and never questioned me. Additionally, I am still very close with the former owners of Gallery 2110 and they are great allies to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, no monetary value can take the place of human interaction and experiences. And while Gilmore has not become a millionaire overnight, it is her love for the art that has made a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPersonally, I think my greatest triumphs have come from interacting with art lovers,\u201d she says. \u201cAt the Sacramento Art Complex, I was so privileged to be able to meet and converse with so many people who had personal experiences relating to my art.\u00a0There was a little boy who used to come in every single month with his mom and ask me questions about new work, old work, whatever. I really looked forward to seeing the two of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne woman told me that my painting, Jelly Ballet<\/em>, has been used to inspire conversations about body image and body gratitude in her circle of friends. People told me they could see themselves, their loved ones in my work. I absolutely love hearing the stories people come up with around these creatures I\u2019ve made. It means they inspire a thought process that goes in weird creative directions for people, and what else could I ask for?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See for yourself at Gilmore\u2019s upcoming show at Little Relics (908 21st Street, Sacramento), featuring shadow boxes and paintings. Opening reception is Thursday, April 9, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more info, visit\u00a0Laurelingilmore.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Submerge)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Coiled” Artist Laurelin Gilmore showcases the beauty of everyday with unexpected imagery Sacramento has always wanted to be a primary market, but as far as attendance at art and music gatherings go, has been a tertiary market at best. In the last decade, however, artists like painter\/sculptor\/illustrator Laurelin Gilmore have managed to eke out a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}