Senior Art Exhibit 2007: Lori Lambert

Lori Lambert

Like many artists, my particular brand of creativity can trace its deepest roots to my childhood. Art does not exist in or emerge from a vacuum and my art has a deep connection with my first, and continuing experiences with beauty. Yet, as I am new to the art world (I started painting second semester of my junior year), my journey towards development has been one of rediscovery--one that, surprisingly, led me home.

Growing up in the austere landscapes of Southwest Iowa, color and line were the two mainstays of my early inspiration. The land there is like a canvas, broad and expansive, where each passing week and each change in the weather brings a new palette of colors. There is so much variety in the way the light changes the look of the land and the organic textures of the landscape, with the growing plants and changing crops constantly proving endless combinations of this variety. But what remains are the lines and curves of the land itself and the stability of the clean and simple structures of the farmsteads are often the only things that remain the same during the course of a year, when the whole process begins again.

Because of the remoteness of the country lifestyle, even the most basic of destinations requires a trip across country. Southern Iowa has a unique brand of rich, fertile soil that is shared only by a small part of mainland China. The soft curvature of this land, which takes the shape of gently rolling hills, provides life-giving sustenance for a great part of the world. The flow of the roads and the motion of the ever-changing landscape is still something that inspires me with in the way that the knowledge of the land unfolds as you move through it.

It is a sense of these experiences that I try to capture in my work. Also present is the sense of quietness and simplicity, a longing for man to be as he always has been, deep in the heart of creation, alone with God. This simplicity of this life is lived by many of the people from this region, who built their lives quite literally, from the ground up. They worked shoulder to shoulder with their families and communities, instilling a strong sense of faith in those they knew and loved. This show is in part, a tribute to them as well.

Man's life began in a garden; the longing for the simplicity of God's perfect love is felt in our reaction to nature, His first gift. The changing landscape as we move along the path of life affords us a better glimpse of eternity, just as our changing vantage point on a long car ride gives us a better idea of the motion with which we are completing that journey, over the hills and valleys, anticipating the curves, longing and heading for the rest and quietness of home.

Come home! Come home!
Ye who are weary come home.
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling 'oh sinner!' Come home!