Behind the 'She'

Behind the 'She'

Lauren Ohlgren, creator of The She Project-

I love living in Oregon. In a community that is not only rich in the arts and
sciences, it's also the perfect balance of being in close proximity to the
ocean, the mountains, the rivers, and the city- taking away the need to
pick one over the other for a place to reside. It also provides a large
palette to draw inspiration for making art, with every day a new weather
pattern, with every mile showing a different landscape view. I admit that I
love the nuance of gray-we have a lot of it-and all the variations that I can
find in that murky middle ground between two pure colors.

Like most artists I create because I can't not create. It's a process that
is often ongoing in my head; images manipulating in rapid fire succession
throughout the day, slipping into night and into my dreams. The following
morning, I wake with new sense of direction, the images playing
themselves out before me. It's like having an answer to some obscure
question that I haven't necessarily put words to. I journal. I work in
textiles. I work in Encaustic. I used to focus on the smooth, flat surfaces
of silk; now I have morphed to working on wood, in 3-D, as metal, bisque
doll parts and found objects find their way into my work.

I also love to give people access to that world, not through observation
of my own work, but through the direct experience of creating
themselves. I teach, or rather, guide others how to create visual travel
journals, giving them the tools to capture the images, therefore the
memories, of their travels. For artists and non-artists alike, I remind
people how to 'see', and to set aside judgment of what art 'should' look
like. These journals, I remind them, should look like they came from your
hand.

While developing these workshops, the women's community wide
project, The She Project, came to be. I wanted to inspire others to
create for themselves. Just play, I tell them, and do it before the mind
gets in there and ruins the whole experience. With 120 women signing up
to play the first year, the project gained momentum. With inspiration
spreading, there has been interest across the country to start a project
of their own. We are now entering our 4th year with The She Project
and recently published a beautiful book of the first year's pieces.

Spending her childhood in Wisconsin,
Lauren Ohlgren has lived in communities
throughout the Northwest from Alaska
to Colorado. She currently lives in
Corvallis, Oregon with her partner and
has 2 grown children.