South Jersey Artist Feature: Loren Dann
Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Loren Dann, an artist from Gloucester County, NJ, to discuss her work and what drives her creative journey. Our conversation delved into her artistic inspirations, her role as an advocate for the arts, and her impact on the local community.
“Hi, I’m Loren Dann, and I’m a fine artist.”
Loren describes her “goal in life is to paint” and despite the bumpy road, this is a long term goal she continues to pursue. Yet, the road is paved a bit smoother by her interest in “the business of art,” and often unrepresented and integral pieces for artists to make a successful career.
Artistic Connection from the Start
Dann always had a deep connection to art. In fact, she recalls that even in childhood she knew she wanted to be an artist. Her most vivid memory from childhood exemplifying and validating this calling to the arts took place in middle school. She won a ribbon for a comic she created and she “couldn’t have been prouder” of herself. Art truly felt like something she could really do that left people feeling impressed. At that point in her life, this realization meant everything to her.
Dann’s professional career as an artist started like all artists: unconventional. While at first she felt deep shame for the fact that she did not complete her Bachelors, that did not deter her from continuing to work on her life goals. Not only has Dann found a pathway to make money as a practicing artist, she also found a means to continue her higher education by applying, getting accepted to, and graduating with a masters degree this December. Dann feels that reaching this new milestone in her life has given her the role of folk artist, where she isn’t fully trained and is self-taught, but she also has the added experience and benefit of completing a college education in the arts. Thus, obtaining this degree feels like a badge of honor for Loren Dann.
Dann’s Artistic Inspiration
Dann describes her interest in making art “attainable for all”. She feels art is typically gate kept in museum galleries or special places. In fact, this inaccessibility has always directed her to Mural Arts because there is no barrier to access the work since “you don’t have to go to a museum to see an artist, you can go into the streets to see art”. Organizations such as Philly Mural Arts stand out as a key inspiration while she works on creating her own murals within her home county of Gloucester County.
Whether she works with her own paintings/murals or educates the public on how to paint, Dann personifies a passion for bringing what is unattainable to everyone and highlights modern artists who are alive today. Two examples of modern artists Dann likes to refer to are: Kara Walker and Bisa Butler. Dann believes these artists are “working passionately in the field right now creating change for us” and are not often discussed or admired by the everyday person due to the elitism of institutions that gatekeeper their work from the general public. Due to this elitism and gatekeeping, we land in present day situations where art is essentially absent from the school system and people go through life thinking we don’t need art. Instead, society needs exposure to many different types of art including writing, music, visual, or performance. Loren Dann believes “all of it is really important for us all to be individuals”.
“Inequity is what drives me in all of my work. I’m inspired by whatever strife is happening.”
Dann has spent a lot of time studying women’s art and women as artists, including the treatment of women artists throughout history. She is inspired by and interested in how their experience impacts their own work and how these experiences have been erased or re-written by history’s authors. Dann sees her work as a correction of that history, making it more accurate, accessible, and interactive for the audience. And there are many stories yet to be told!
South Jersey Artist Collective
Dann is the Executive Director of South Jersey Artist Collective (SJAC), launched during the pandemic in 2019. The purpose of the organization is to “support and promote the art and artists of the South Jersey region through free community events, projects, and exhibitions”. In a similar vein to her inspiration as an artist battling arts inequity, SJAC has a common goal. With arts being an inaccessible space, Dann encourages everyone to see themselves as an artist if they just create. With SJAC, Dann did not want it to be so focused on the art sales and instead solely focused on the art. That exposure to the arts at events, galleries, and exhibitions is crucial for gleaning knowledge and understanding from the artists showcasing their work. And while the focus for this organization is not on selling work, it does inspire others to not only have a feeling of creativity but also foster a meaningful connection that is often lost through the trials and tribulations of adulthood and societal expectations.
Dann cites an example of this loss of creativity occurring when she teaches older people. “Older people are scared to be creative. They weren’t taught to just let loose and have fun and just explore this idea, just think about it.”. Older students in her classes tend to ask for rigid structure, a prompt, a form, or something to measure and model their final product. Instead, she works diligently with her students to just “let their creative juices flow” because “being a great artist isn’t about selling paintings…you become a great artist by creating art, teaching art, experiencing art and being in that lifestyle”.
Barriers
“Sometimes, it’s hard for those two to live together.”
The careful balancing act of creating what she enjoys and creating what pays the bills is a challenge for many artists. Dann, however, takes a step back and looks at the conundrum like this:
Everyone doesn’t like every artist's work. And everyone does not or cannot purchase an artist's work. And that is OKAY.
When you can find and know your niche, the rest does not matter. You have your audience to purchase your work and you can also create the work that you enjoy.
Materials
Dann cites canvas as her most used material. However, she loves incorporating unconventional and personalized touches to the individuals she sketches.
In fact, Dann likes to incorporate materials like clothing, paper, and glitter in her work to bring the message of these impactful, historical figures to life.
For Dann, a great example of her unique way of conveying important messages is her portrait of Harriet Tubman.
“I think her, in the woods with a glow in the back…Harriet believed that she made it through the woods and these many miles through the guidance of angels and lights. So, I kind of gave her a halo glow in the woods, with those poppies.”
Dann went on to describe the darker nature of these brightly colored poppies, explaining how Tubman used herbal medicine to keep children silent during these dangerous journeys through the woods. She used the poppies as a contrast of the light and dark themes relevant to the abolitionist movement and the end of slavery in America.
“To me, that situation seems so scary and hopeless…but they survived.”
As an artist, Dann is always curious about how to make the case for the strongest statement to push her community and her audience to question and think about these different and complex issues that transcend from the past to modern day.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Some of the paintings for Dann’s exhibition, “Portraits,” are based on poetry. As an artist she is really interested in diving deep into her subject. For example, she is a huge fan of Sylvia Plath and read a book that came out a few years ago called, “Red Comet”. This 900-page book, a Gwenyth Paltrow movie, and other media inspired Dann to create a portrait of Sylvia Plath. The painting has a “1930’s blue” background and depicts Plath wearing a coat of jacquard camel, “the most expensive thing she ever bought with her book sale money.” After this portrait, Dann went on to paint more artists such as Andy Warhol.
However, her ongoing exhibition, “Portraits,” was inspired by Dr. Daisy Century’s performance at Rowan College of South Jersey. Dr. Century performs eight characters for her show, and Dann was captivated by her performance of Bessie Coleman. Dr. Century’s words and passion blew Dann away, and she just knew she had to collaborate with her. After talking with Dr. Century and proposing a collaboration, she gave Dann a series of books that inspired her performances. These books along with the assistance of podcasts, music, and tv shows helped Loren Dann absorb all of the knowledge and creative expression needed to craft her portraits for this series. Thus, combining fine art and performance in one.
“Portraits” is an ongoing exhibition at Rowan College of South Jersey at 1400 Tanyard Rd, Sewell, NJ 08080 in the Dr. Ross Beitzel Gallery. You can view the exhibit from now until the end of January.
You can view Dr. Century’s performance as Phyllis Wheatly at the Cultural Collective Cafe on December 18, 2024. Contact SJAC for more details.
Artist Contact information:
Loren Dann
lorendann@gmail.com
