Hello world! My name is Lauren and I am a senior studying electrical and computer engineering.
Art has always been something I wish I was better at, I spent my childhood tracing drawings of my favorite characters because I could never produce something I thought was good enough. In highschool I took art and learned the basics of drawing and painting which elevated my art skills from “what is that awkward stain on that piece of paper, oh you painted that?” to a solid “maybe it’s bad art, or maybe it’s just abstract.” In college I have continued to pursue art because I find it interesting and unique and have come to use it as an escape from the overly tech driven nature of campus.
I grew up in a family of electrical engineers so I spent 16 years of my life avoiding programming and electronics in order to be the unique and different one. Obviously that didn’t work out for me as programming and electronics are actually really cool and my senior year of highschool I was able to take a programming class in addition to an engineering design class which lead me here to WPI to study ECE.
My most passionate creative art is comedy. I’m obsessed with making other people laugh, especially when it’s at my own expense. I enjoy writing material for my stand up set, and have begun dabbling in skit writing and monolouge jokes. Ideally, I’d like to pursue a career in comedy, but if that doesn’t work out at least I have engineering to fall back on.
My creative inspirations come from my comedy idols, two of which are Bo Burnham and Kate McKinnon. Artisitcally I’ve always enjoyed modern art, Jackson Pollock especially. The idea that art is about the process and not just the ending result really ressonates with me. Degas also inspires me, mostly because I had a short lived career in ballet from the ages of 5 to 6 and his work always reminds me of my childhood years.
Art fits into my goals of being able to express myself however I want. I often feel stifled by the engineering industry; business casual clothes, strict procedures, and formal launge in the work enviorment are all aspects of it I don’t particually enjoy. Art keeps me grounded and makes me feel as though I am still expressing myself in my truest nature. Creating art, considering fashion, and buying art that makes me happy is how art fits into my long term goals.
My most recent project that I am most proud of is a product I designed with another group member for and ECE design class.
See above video for an informurcial I created for the product. We used an arduino mini connected to a temperature sensor to control blinds, i.e. if a room was too hot the blinds would close to conserve energy. We were also able to connect it to bluetooth so you could use your phone as a remote to control the blinds. Who wouldn’t want smart controlled blinds?
This is an example of a classic doodle, something that a much more skilled artist could acomplish in 5 minutes, but took me approximately an hour.
This past Christmas I decided to not buy any gifts for anyone, but instead make friends and family homemade custom pillowcases. I have made a small business out of them and they are avalible for purchase based on your interests I can pickout comfy fabric and make you the best pillowcase ever. (Shameless plug).
This painting is titled Red Chair Watches as Storm Cloud Chases Happy Cloud I made this painting at a paint night, so creatively was not very adventurous however I did have a lot of fun doing it. Art is all about the process to me. (Yes, I signed it LG Swag, I suppose I was feeling particularly cool that night).
This piece of art I like to call, Paint Night Deux as it was also completed at a paint night. I like to think the boat is sailing far far away to a place that knows how to properly paint shadows.
This is a political piece making a statement about our government. Not actually it’s just a sketch I drew trying to practice shadows (exhibit A the above painting), but it sounds much more important and art-like to call it a politcal piece.
This is called My Nose is Crooked, but so Are Your Politcal Views. Again, not actually. But once again that makes it seem like a much more skilled and important piece of work.
In summary:
My name is Lauren.
I’m not classically skilled at art.
I like to make people laugh.
Buy my pillowcases.