Pop of Paper Local Chicago Artist Branding Session July 2020
Lex and I met Laura at a socially distant art show a few weeks ago and immediately connected with her. We both loved her passion for her work and the fact that she was a local artist. Laura asked us to do some branding and promo shots of her and her tent for some upcoming virtual events she was holding. She had set up her entire booth she normally takes to art shows on her back porch. I love that she is coming up with new ideas to connect with people during this hard time! Read more about her below and check out her work here.
How Laura got started
I was inspired by my friend's rescue dog Maizy. I met her and I HAD to paint her. I haven't painted since college, over 20 years ago, and never animals! So what made me think that I could do it? I didn't. But what I had was this "need to paint!" While I was creating these paintings, and hearing the touching stories of "how they met" I realized that like myself, all the pets were rescues. When I read my friends' stories and the process they went through, I found myself relating on a very emotional level. I too am an adoptee, and the similarities to my journey of finding a loving home with my adoptee parents in the U.S. resonated.
Their story is my story.
Her technique
Unlike a photographic or full-color likeness, Laura’s Sumi-e inspired artistic style depicts the spirit (Ch’i) unique to each pet and brings that beauty alive through each vibrant stroke. Her technique brings a spontaneity, a controlled chaos that grasps the true essence of the pets she paints that “jumps off the page,” as her customers often share. Also being a Korean adoptee, she understands in a very emotional personal way the long journeys these pets have made to find their forever home just and is always top of mind when she paints.
She also signs her painting with her seal or "chop" with traditional red ink. This stamp has significance to her. She bought the stamp when she went to Seoul, South Korea in 2003, her first trip back since coming to the U.S. It there that she decided to claim her original Korean name. It wasn't until the paintings that she decided to use it in a public way. "This chop is very special to me. When I had to decide how I was going to sign my painting, I immediately went to the drawer that held this special stamp. There was no question in my mind. When I sign the paintings with this stamp, it seals the relationship that I have with the pet that I have gone on this emotional journey, and like them, I have claimed my rightful place."
