Lauren E. Peters
Lauren E. Peters (b. 1981) is a visual artist working with the concept of identity through self-portraiture. After an extended hiatus from painting, she began creating portraits for a small exhibit in 2016 and won an Emerging Artist Fellowship in 2018 from the Delaware Division of the Arts with an affiliated exhibit at the Biggs Museum of American Art. By 2023, she was awarded her second Individual Artist Fellowship from the DDOA as an Established Fellow and was exhibiting on a national level. Peters attended a residency in 2024 at the Vermont Studio Center, supported in part by a grant from the DDOA in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. She was also awarded a month-long residency at ChaShaMa's international program, ChaNorth, in May of 2024. Peters maintains a studio at The Delaware Contemporary and has served as the Vice President of the Studios@ group and as the Artists Program Manager, helping develop this role to serve local and emerging artists. Peters was previously the Operations Manager of the Somerville Manning Gallery and a board member at The Art Trust in West Chester, PA. She continues to grow as an artist and arts professional, supported at home by her husband, two cats, and a dog named Rosie.
Artist Statement
My practice is an examination of the construction and performance of identity and gender; an exploration of our daily costumes as armor, projection, mirage. Source photos are staged, a conversation with a cell phone and the selfie, then oil paintings to stake a tangible claim in existence. Putting on these costumes is a donning of the Feminine, a targeted approach to fashion a more inclusive visual language that exists outside of the historically dominant masculine and patriarchal lens. A definition of self, however rickety or steadfast it may be, living beyond any binary or box checked definitively on a personality test. Stories or symbolism that hold disparate meanings are welcome companions, embracing the irony of loud prints and colors as human flamboyance against life-saving camouflage in the wild. I am creating an environment where it would be safe to show my colors, to still be a wallflower in clashing patterns and the brightest palette imaginable. The paintings spring from a dialogue with the past and present, internal and external influences, a healthy dose of shared stories and mythology, and the struggle to form a cohesive sense of self. The work is emboldened while I fight the urge to hide, trying not to lose myself completely.
https://www.laurenepeters.com/
