Spokane artist vents her emotions
LauraLee White, 38, grew up in Central Washington where, in high school, she spewed her emotions in art classes like her life depended on it.
Maybe it did; living in a home where abuse and fear were the norm, she had nowhere else to vent. She began self-medicating at age 12 and then bounced between group homes, rehabs and mental hospitals through her teens.
She graduated from high school at 17 and hit the road. In 1993, she arrived in Spokane where she found her tribe – artists and musicians who welcomed her with open arms. She created art freely and played bass in a band.
White started showing her paintings and mixed-media pieces at galleries, parties, and on the balcony of an apartment on the South Hill, where she built a papier-mâché tree. She started college, worked odd jobs and had two children. Eventually she earned an interior design degree from Washington State University, received a Sustainable Building Advisory Certificate, and volunteered for the local chapter of the Northwest Eco Building Guild.
Over the years, her demons have quieted for the most part, but not her need to be heard.
“I need to express, to vent, to slay, to execute, to brutalize, to demonize, to be understood, received and celebrated,” she said. “That is life, and it’s not perfect. I create to broil things up to the surface, to use that fuel of anger that has such a long reach at times, to show the horror of life, to connect with people.”
White’s work is filled with emotion in many styles, mediums and shades. There are abstract figures, alien yet human, that appear to dance – or do they writhe? Her assemblages include doll parts, keys, pages from magazines, knobs and other found objects put together like mechanical puzzles in shallow boxes of wood and glass. Her black-and-white drawings are intricate representations of beating hearts, bones and muscles. One large painting is a colorful collection of characters that perhaps moonlight as circus performers; their heads are vacant holes through which living people can put their smiling faces for a Kodak moment.
White is well-aware life is rarely a Kodak moment, but creating art has helped her make sense of the world around her. Her glasses are not rose-colored; they are a kaleidoscope.
“I want to change the world. I want to resist the status quo because it doesn’t work. I mean, just look around,” she said.
The ways she hopes to change the world are through thought-provoking imagery, by exposing what lies hidden, by creating dialogue, and organizing art shows.
As co-creator of a group of artists called La Resistance, she will resist the status quo in an event in July. In February, she will exhibit her work at the Satellite Diner, 425 W. Sprague Ave.