"Drawn to Dusk" Opening Reception | Lauren Lesley Solo Exhibition

Lauren Lesley’s practice is rooted in personal history and modern societal context. Raised in Greenville, South Carolina, she began drawing from a young age, using art as a way to process emotion and make sense of the world around her. After earning her BFA from Ringling College of Art and Design, she continued refining her focus on memory, emotional connection, and the quiet significance of everyday objects. The graphite and charcoal drawings in DRAWN TO DUSK, which feature objects like her mother’s childhood stuffed bunny and a jar of shark teeth she collected with her father, are both literal and symbolic portraits of people, places, and keepsakes that speak to connection, grief, nostalgia, and transformation.

“My drawings represent subjects I have a strong emotional connection to but am physically disconnected from,” Lauren says. “For me, the process of drawing is a method of processing change.”

Lesley’s work is shaped in part by her experience with early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder, including what she now recognizes as early symptoms of False Memory OCD, a subtype that involves intrusive doubts about past events followed by compulsions intended to relieve a distressing need for certainty. Drawing became a way to ground herself, using repetition and meticulous detail as both a coping mechanism and a form of escapism. This connection between mental health and creative process is also the focus of her current thesis research as an MFA candidate at Georgia State University, where she explores the intersections of memory, realism, and OCD in her artistic practice.

DRAWN TO DUSK features work from two major series: Time Capsules and Sensory Imprints. In Time Capsules, Lauren draws small objects from her childhood, such as miniature toys, jewelry, erasers used in childhood drawings, and found objects from her elementary school playground, with each one acting as a visual archive of personal identity and emotional development. Sensory Imprints explores memory through imagined textures and visual cues that evoke the physical sensations of remembered spaces, like the coarse bricks of her childhood home or the grain of a cold wooden floor. Drawn entirely from memory, these works reflect Lesley’s effort to render the elusive nature of recollection into something tactile and visible.

“In a world that moves quickly, these drawings offer patience and stillness,” she reflects. “They ask viewers to slow down and consider what, how, and why they remember subtle details of their pasts.”

Want to see more?
Follow Lauren on Instagram: @doodledrawing
Learn more about her work at LaurenLesleyArt.com
Learn more about the show at https://www.getgoodart.co/

You may also like the following events from Good Art Co.:

• This Wednesday, 30th July, 06:00 pm, Art Workshop: Discover Drypoint with Freda Sue (Multiple Sessions) in Greenville
• This Friday, 1st August, 06:00 pm, "Reflections" August Art Party | Monica Iversen Solo Exhibition in Greenville

Also check out other Arts events in Greenville, Exhibitions in Greenville, Fine Arts events in Greenville.