Promising Artists Of The 21St Century

Art M.F.A. candidate Lauren Shea Little exhibits her work in an international exhibition.

Art M.F.A. candidate Lauren Shea Little exhibits her work in an international exhibition. 

By Kelsi Loos, Office of Communications

Second year MFA candidate Lauren Shea Little was selected to exhibit her art at the 2012 “Promising Artists of the 21st Century” exhibition in San Jose, Costa Rica.  From the 14th of June to the 5th of July 2012, her work was on display at the Centro Cultural Costarricense [Costa Rican Cultural Center].

The exhibit was designed to showcase pieces from young African-American artists to an international audience. Twenty-three artists applied, but only seven were selected. The selected work reflected a wide variety of styles.

 “It proves that the scope of work being produced by young, black artists in the 21st century is pretty broad.  I’m proud to be a part of it,” Little said of the diversity of work.

Little’s submissions for the exhibit express sound visually.  She created the art by placing crushed soft pastel pigments inside speaker cones and letting the vibrations create images. Using a microphone, she generated sounds which would cause the pigment to move across the work’s surface. She experimented with different types of pigments, paper, fabric and sounds.

Little's work was selected for inclusion in both the permanent collections of the U.S. Consulate in Costa Rica and in the Costa Rican Embassy in the United States.

Curlee Holton, Driskell Center executive director and exhibition juror, noted that the exhibit travelled to Limón, an area of Costa Rica with a large population of black Costa Ricans of Caribbean descent. He said that it was an important opportunity to young African-American artists’ “unique expression” with the community in Limón.

 “The language of art is universal,” he said.

Holton said that the exhibition will continue to travel throughout Costa Rica and possibly to the Driskell Center under the title “The Future of Art.” He also intends to set a high priority for international collaboration at the center. Upcoming exhibitions will travel to Japan and Mexico and future exhibitions are being investigated in China and Israel.