Lana Larouche,
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About me . . .UPBRINGING
Born and raised in Victoria B.C., art has been a huge part of my upbringing as far back as I can remember. My mother being an artist, my dad being a carver, and both sets of grandparents being involved in painting and wood carving. My sister is an artist (currently a tattoo artist) and was the first person I learnt from...mostly by tracing and copying her work in which she would beat me up over, but one must start somewhere! When I was 8 my mom enrolled me in an advanced art class held at a recreation centre for kids 13 and up. How? All she needed to do was to bring in some of my work to show the teacher which was enough to show him that I had a passion for observation and a love for the creative imagination. I must have spent 98% of my time outdoors. Growing up I had a huge backyard which connected to a local trail (previously a train track) in which I would walk along catching snakes and bringing home bouquets of wild flowers for my mother--who would immediately run them outside because they were either A) poisonous B) infested with bugs or C) all of the above. I loved nature, the colours, the creatures and the freedom it gave me. It was outside where I first brought out a sketchbook and began drawing wild abstracted creatures and dreams. I should also mention I actually spent most nights outdoors too because my parents would let me set up camp out on our sun-deck. The sun being my favourite alarm clock as I was never was and still am not someone to sleep in. On days when I would visit my grandpa he would get me to bring my recent drawings to him in which he would give me constructive criticism as an informal critique. This was huge in my development as an artist to understand that just because someone points out something that can be improved does not mean you should be upset by it but rather excited to learn and progress from. It was always my goal to come back to him with progressively better work. Renting numerous animal books from the local library was another way I practiced and expressed my need to create and recreate as a child. Recently my mom shared a special story with me of back when I was pre-kindergarden. After Sunday mass all the kids would gather in the church's hall, have apple juice, play and draw. It was then to my mom's surprise that I brought her a drawing I had done--a fully nude woman, nipples and all. Although quite random and shocking really, all I had to say about it was "Mommy I drew you a lady". At first my mom found it funny of all the things to draw I drew a nude woman at the age of 4. Yet even so, I still had the visual capabilities of getting proportion to an admirable degree, hair, and even knuckle creases! But.. only 3 fingers per hand, for I was still too young to count. EDUCATION During all of high school I was part of an Advanced Art Class home to only 6 students which allowed for a more one-on-one individualized course which focused on preparing for undergraduate studies. From there, I enrolled at Camosun College in Victoria for their 2-year Visual Arts program. Their program being more studio based I learned the basics of just about all mediums and techniques (painting, drawing, printmaking, film, photography, sculpture, and ceramics). After finishing at Camosun I moved to Kelowna and was accepted to the University of British Columbia for their Bachelor of Fine Arts Program (BFA). Here I mainly focus on painting, linoleum carving, and drawing. Graduating April 2014. FUTURE PLANS My heart lay in the tattoo industry and I aspire to become a tattoo artist like my sister. We hope to collaborate on our goals of owning a female-artist exclusive tattoo shop by owning one together. I would also love to teach art, but not on an academic level. Private lessons or teaching art at a community run centre, like where I had first begun my artistic journey, would be more towards what I would be interested in pursuing in the future. |