BSA and Art Association bring artist Lauren Luna to campus for speaker event
The University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) Art Association and the Black Student Association (BSA) teamed up to bring in guest speaker Lauren Luna to share her overall experiences as an artist. This student-organized event was held on campus as a part of the celebration of Black History Month.
Luna is a local artist who is known for her cityscape paintings of iconic Houston locations. She was named one of the Top 50 Entrepreneurs by Scion Car Company.
Her shoe designs have been exhibited in the Grassi Museum in Germany and the Goldstein Museum in Minnesota, of which two pairs of her hand-painted shoes are a part of the Goldstein Museum’s permanent collection. She has also participated in Houston and Austin Fashion Weeks, and been highlighted in British Vogue and Glamour Magazines.
After graduating from Kent State University’s School of Fine Arts, Luna began teaching special education in New York City. She found herself putting art aside as teaching became her full-time job. While teaching in NYC, Luna earned a master’s degree in special education from Manhattan College. She then returned home to Columbus, continued teaching and enrolled in the Academy of Art University to earn a second master’s degree in fine arts. In 2011, Luna relocated to Houston, Texas, where she found herself following her dreams as a full-time artist and designer.
“My MFA thesis was capturing the essence of New York City, where I had lived after graduating undergrad,” Luna said. “When I relocated to Houston, I noticed that there was a very strong sense of pride that Houstonians had for their home. My infatuation with big cities has always been the beauty nestled in the chaos of them. The movement, people, architecture and everything in between has always been a part of my work, no matter the locale.”
While in Houston, Luna has created art for Mayor Sylvester Turner, and a mural for news station KHOU – which is located in George R Brown Convention Center.
“Being that Houston is now my home, it made more sense to paint it in its current state visually documenting the way it looks today,” Luna said. “Judging at the rate the city is changing and growing, what I’ve painted today, will look very different in a few years. Being that the work that I’m most known for is of the Houston skyline, UHCL students can relate to it through it being recognizable landmarks. Though UHCL isn’t in Houston proper, I’m positive that the students get around Houston, and within my paintings they would be able to connect with the architecture within the familiarity of Houston.”
Art Association President Alyssa Shotwell said she noticed Luna’s work on social media and started following her. Shotwell felt Luna was a perfect speaker to bring to campus because “she is multi-talented and very animated.”
The Art Association brought Luna to campus to tell her story being a working artist in Houston. This event took place in the Arbor North Building on Feb. 4. Luna spoke about her pasts experience as an artist, showed students her past work, and talked about how she found her way to earn money while being a struggling artist.
“I have been following her amazing work for a while now on Instagram/Facebook and at last fall’s Bayou City Arts Festival approached her to see how she was in person,” Shotwell said. “Her humor and willingness to converse with someone with a ‘volunteer t-shirt’ over the potential customers around me gave me the feeling she would be open to coming to campus if we reached out. The most memorable thing about this event was her talent for storytelling and ability to overcome every obstacle in achieving her goals.”
Shotwell said the UHCL Art Association has also pledged to donate to the DREAM Scholarship. The DREAM Scholarship is part of the D.R.E.A.M. Affect Foundation mission to aide minority art students. Luna is co-president of D.R.E.A.M. along with gallery owner Carla Bisong.
“Minorities are very underrepresented in higher learning, and even more so within the Fine Arts,” Luna said. “As a result of this, I came up with the DREAM Art Scholarship. This scholarship is dedicated to minority seniors in high school who want to further their education in the Fine Arts.”
Luna said this past year marked the second year for this scholarship, and the amount raised increases every year.
“Bookmarked with a fundraising art show, I fall upon my artist connections for them to donate art which is then auctioned off,” Luna said. “They have an option to donate 100% of the sales, or just a portion so that they can also make money themselves. As an artist, I want to make sure that they are not exploited, which happens frequently in the art world. Combined, we have raised $4,000 for students. It’s my hope that this project continues to grow, so that more talented students can go on to follow their dreams and receive the art education they desire.”
CORRECTION: 2/21/20 – Quote from Alyssa Shotwell was corrected for clarity.
CORRECTION: 3/23/20 – Article updated with corrections regarding the DREAM Scholarship, which was previously published as the Laura Luna scholarship. Additionally, the original article misstated Luna was a foot manufacturer and received a master’s in fine arts.
