Artist Statement:
Lauryn Pepe, painter and textile surface artist, was born in New York. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, she earned her B.F.A in textile surface design. In Manhattan she worked in both domestic and apparel design. Then a move to San Francisco. There Lauryn began painting murals while still working as a surface designer. After San Fransico Lauryn lived in Florence, Italy. While there her paintings were exhibited at the contemporary galleria. She also completed a mural inside the corner cafe at via Chiesa & via dei Leone. Now back in New York Lauryn works as a scenic painter as well as producing mural beautification projects. In 2009 Lauryn painted a beautification mural on 12st in L.I.C , between the Queensbridge and Ravenswood housing units. The non profit organization East River Development Alliance brought her on to do a day of mentoring for their youth program. The plan was to clean up and add to a pre existing mural. Lauryn ended up spending a month painting a new mural for the kids which was 12 feet high and 200 feet long. In September 2011 Lauryn produced a beautification mural project in the lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, LA. This involved doing research to find a school in which she could do a workshop with local youth as well as a location to execute the mural. Once that was approved she began fundraising for the project. The process began in January 2011 and by September 2011 she was in the lower 9th starting work with students at the Dr. King Charter School. Their drawings were combined to make one cohesive design which Lauryn painted in Sam Bonart Park. This is a community still struggling hard to rebuild. Lauryn believes there is great importance in doing these projects in communities that are more used to negative influence then positive. The most hardened people appreciate art for its colorful and positive impact. Especially when youth from their community are involved in the process. The students who helped design the mural brought their parents to see their work and felt a sense of pride and accomplishment.
