Lorena Grant
Image source Instagram
She found an aptitude in 3D modelling and drawing, which manifested as she got older and she started weaving as well as working with leather, clay as well as writing poetry.
While in school, Lorenna was barraged with the images and stories of artists and their tragic lives and there was no indication that anyone could “do art” full time. While she was selected for exhibitions at the end of high school, she wasn’t bolstered by that kind of achievement and left high school to spend the next 12 years travelling and living a self-proclaimed “wild” life.
Lorenna describes art as “choosing” her, and it was something she didn’t properly start studying until 30 years old.
After 3 years of art school, Lorenna knew it was her life and settled into a community of artists living in the Perth hills, showcasing her work in group and solo exhibitions.
Lorenna describes her time exhibiting in a gallery as an amazing sort of “apprenticeship” as it taught her about scale and proportion, and the way art can affect the viewer and inform us about ourselves.
After several years, Lorenna was invited to teach art, design, visual literacy, sculpture and drawing at the local TAFE, and she also lectured at Edith Cowan University and tutored landscape architecture at the University of Western Australia.
Lorenna enjoyed watching the students and describes their transition from self-conscious, unsure and doubtful students into confident adults as an exciting thing to watch, and she loved seeing them contribute to the collective artist community.
While public art wasn’t the direction Lorenna was planning to go down, she was fascinated with figurative, classical sculptures and this morphed into ephemeral and landscape work.
Lorenna found it a natural progression to move into public works and integration with buildings, and she uses the space around the proposed art location to inspire her.
She describes how lucky Perth artists are to have the opportunity to create “layers of wonder and pondering for people that are engaging with our local landscapes and built environments and natural surrounds.”
Some examples of Lorenna’s projects that showcase this inspiration by the surroundings include:
Mulla Mulla in Karratha (2012) – Made of steel, steel mesh, airbrushed enamels and light, this piece is a feminine show in a predominantly masculine townscape inspired by the floral ephemera found resilient amongst the iron hills of Karratha.
Beatty Park Aquatic Centre (2015) – Steel, paint, mirror stainless steel and light, this is inspired by the ‘rivulets’ found throughout the Beatty Park complex.
Artwork in Angove Street (2016) – Made from steel and composite panels, the inspiration was to show abstractly the presence of the ancestral community of North Perth, blending with references to the old movie theatre adjacent, echoes of the movie viewers and the classic red velvet curtains. Tales of a watchful older generation mixed in the present.
Visit: LorennaGrant, Instagram, Denmac
