Lauren MacLaughlin

A native of Los Angeles, Lauren MacLaughlin graduated from Marlborough
School followed by U.C.L.A. with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and concentrated French studies. Lauren attended Studio Arts Center International in Florence, Italy, an affiliate of The Chicago Institute of Art, to study Early Renaissance art history, drawing, oil painting and textiles.

Lauren received a second BA in Fine and Applied Art from the school of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon, concentrating in studio courses in figure drawing, oil painting, medium and large format photography, and printmaking. Returning to Los Angeles, Lauren completed her graduate studies in education at Loyola Marymount University where she received a BCLAD California Teaching Credential in Secondary Art Education. In Los Angeles, Lauren worked as a photography assistant at Smashbox Studios, a Producer in Digital Imaging at Luna Imaging, with clients including MOMA and Getty Images, and as the photography teacher at Beverly Hills High School.

Between 1999-2004, Lauren lived in Sun Valley, Idaho where she began Focal Point Educational Services, a tutoring, art and supplemental education service and also worked as a Graphic Designer and Photo Editor for Sun Valley Magazine. During that time, Lauren had several solo and group shows of painting, photography and drawing.

Returning to Southern California with her husband in 2005, she studied at UCLA in Interior Architecture and Design, and worked in jewelry design and art consulting. Since having her two children and settling in Newport Beach, Lauren has focused on painting, jewelry design and private teaching.

Lauren’s photography and painting work has been exhibited at galleries in both Sun Valley, Idaho and Laguna Beach, California and in corporate and private collections.

Lauren served as a committee member for the Laguna Art Museum’s annual California Cool Exhibit from 2016 - 2018 and then as an Ambassador Committee Member for the Orange County Museum of Art in 2019. 

Lauren’s jewelry has been sold largely by commission, in private venues and at charitable events.

I think all mediums of art inform one another— it has never been a practice exclusive to one medium. I am currently
painting with oil and working with natural materials to create jewelry, but over the years, I have worked in photography,
charcoal drawing, printmaking, and textiles. Choosing and working with different mediums and tools seems more a
question of what method best communicates what I see and my response to it at that particular time. Working this
way keeps things challenging and interesting.

I have learned that denying or deferring our creative drive doesn't make it go away. One way or another, it will express
itself in our lives. So it is best to meet resistance head on, in its many forms, and to believe in and nurture and challenge
our responses to our innate creative instincts.