Seven Sorrows

20 x 16″
Graphite, gouache, and fabric on paper
By Lauren Butler

Lauren Janelle, also known as LJANELLE, is an artist from Houston, TX. She documents the experiences of her friends, family, and community primarily through painting,  drawing, and mixed media. Nostalgia and honoring those who have passed down traditions and knowledge are central to her practice. In addition she pulls from her identity as a Black American women living in the South. One of the traditions she learned was sewing; a skill she learned from her mother which was passed down from LJANELLE’s grandmother. 

She began hand sewing as a small child and graduated to machine sewing at the age of fifteen. The amount of scrap fabric left over from fashion projects, led her to incorporate fiber into her current work. Subsequently, she began to incorporate other found and leftover materials in her recent work. In 2017 she started ArtShowHouston, a platform to help other artists learn about art calls, grants, and organizations in the city of Houston. 

She has shown her work at Hardy & Nance Studios (Houston), The University Museum at TSU (Houston), The Glassell School of Art (Houston), Community Artists’ Collective (Houston), Icosa Gallery (Austin), The March for Black Women Houston (Houston) amongst others.