Lauren G. Koch

I have a wide spectrum of interests -- I am a sculptor and printmaker as well as a classically trained musician, who enjoys songwriting and playing folk instruments.  Since being exposed to iron casting in my early teens and I am a foundry rat at heart. I love mold making, pouring molten metal, grinding and chasing, and patination processes.  I also enjoy fabrication, metal-smithing, wood working, ceramics, photography, drawing, painting with acrylics and watercolors, and writing.  Another passion of mine is textiles, the textures and patterns are often visible in my artwork across mediums.  I knit, crochet, weave, sew, spin yarn, and harvest natural colorants for dyeing.  While I have been trained in all printmaking techniques relief, screen printing, mono-printing, and rust printing are my favorites. 

I was home-schooled K-12th grade, and Spring of 2016, I graduated cum laude from the University of West Georgia wtih a BFA in Sculpture and Printmaking and an Art History Minor. Through the three study abroad programs I participated in at UWG, I visited France, England, Finland, Estonia, Italy, and Switzerland. While in Italy, I was fortunate enough to participate in my first international exhibition Linking Worlds: Georgia to Spoleto.  I served as the President of the UWG Chapter of the Art Student Union and the Department of Art representative to the UWG College of Arts and Humanities. I have won awards at numerous juried and non-juried shows throughout Georgia and Tennessee, including the UWG Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Atlanta Printmakers Studio Members Exhibition, Georgia National Fair Juried Fine Arts Competition, and the College Juried Exhibition at Mountain View Cultural Arts Center in Cobb County.  In 2016, I was featured as one of the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance's Outstanding Student Achievement Award recipients. Also, John C. Campbell Folk School has been a huge part of my education of folk traditions such as folk instruments, folk dances (playing/singing, composing, calling, and dancing), blacksmithing, and silver-smithing.  

​

Since graduating from UWG, I have been an emerging artist in residence at Salem Art Works and the Atlanta Printmakers Studio. At the 2017 National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art Practices, I was awarded with the Mold Masters Challenge Award. Most recently, I have been working on an art bench design for the City of Newnan and will be featured as an artist in residence at Newnan Art Rez.  August of 2017, you will find me starting my MFA studies at the University of Maryland in College Park. When I am not busy creating artwork, you can find me teaching community art classes and volunteering at sculpture or printmaking events.