Students find inspiration in the newest art exhibit featured in the upstairs gallery space.
WSB has seen lots of Alumni activity lately – the most colorful of which is the latest exhibit in our Community Art Gallery. Natan Lawson is a Baltimore-based artist who graduated from the Waldorf School of Baltimore in 2002.
Lily, in eighth grade said she found the piece titled "Latchkey" the most interesting piece in the collection.
"It could be in an old film," she said. "I like the style of it and how it feels vintage. It really catches my eye."
Lawson’s art takes a hybrid form that sits at the intersections between drawing and painting, and of hand-made and computer-processed. He makes all of his artwork with a computer-controlled plotter originally designed to cut vinyl, which he modified to produce marks with a variety of implements.
The eighth grade watched a video with Ms. Emmet and learned exactly how Lawson produces each piece in this collection. Sonia, in eighth grade pictured below, said she was most interested in "Asthenosphere" because of the process it took to make it.
"I like the way the colors overlap," she said. "I found how he's doing this really interesting and I like how the colors aren't in rainbow order but mixed up. It works though and feels right. And I like that the colors aren't even, they're imperfect."
His work considers collective and personal memory, producing paintings that echo traditional crafts, such as cross stitch, needlepoint and weaving. His work is included in the Kadist collection and the Airbnb headquarters in San Francisco, CA, as well as the Capital One headquarters in MacLean, VA.
Baltimore residents might also have seen his Wheely Good Smoothies at the downtown farmer’s market or other events, and his bike-powered light canopy installation at Light City (check out the video here: https://youtu.be/AhxZajhO6go)
Lawson studied Visual Arts at the Baltimore School for the Arts and later received his BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2015. That same year, he was selected as a resident artist at the Horned Dorset Colony in N.Y., and in 2016, he received an individual artist award in sculpture through the Maryland State Arts Council. After college, he returned to his hometown of Baltimore to live and work.
You can follow Natan on Instagram at @hotandsoursoup. All work in the show are for sale. Please contact Natan at hello@natanlawson.com to purchase. If you'd like to take a look at the exhibit in person, please reach out to Jo Keller at development@twsb.org as she can schedule a time with you.