Artist perfects creativity in a world of her own making
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BY LIZ STINSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Julia Lauer-Cheenne has a play space.
It’s hidden at the top of the house — past the grown-up pleasures of TVs and a remodeled kitchen and up the narrow stairs that were made for the feet of people under 5 years old.
It’s a place of imagination and color, filled to the brim with seemingly discarded objects that Lauer-Cheenne will eventually use for one of her art projects.
My favorite piece in my studio is: the one I’ve just finished, “Sushi for Two.”
The best part about creating is: freedom.
I go here when I want to get away from it all: my attic studio.
The best part of my job is: teaching people something that can change their lives for the better.
The worst part of my job is: assigning grades.
If I could change one thing about my community it would be: the downtown.
My spouse thinks I’m: a luddite.
I wish I had more time for: learning another foreign language.
My ideal vacation would be: swimming with the dolphins.
I’ve always envied people who can: live in the moment.
Just when I thought I knew it all I found out: how it feels to become the “older” generation.
“Some artists are tidier than others,” she said as she stepped past a few random art supplies that littered the floor.
Some artists are tidy, but Lauer-Cheenne isn’t one of them — nor should she be.
The 55-year-old French professor, works best amid clutter, which is evident in the piles of mixed media collages and quirky projects that make use of even the most unpredictable of objects.
For her, inspiration comes from everywhere and seemingly nowhere at all. It’s the curse of the artistic mind, the ability to make something out of nothing but not be able to explain where it came from.
“I’m in another world when I create — I’m not in this one,” she said, sitting among the creations in her attic studio space. “I’m in a world of beauty. It’s a world of complete freedom, a world where you create your own boundaries.”
Boundaries don’t seem to exist in her world. She’s a modern-day renaissance woman of sorts, painting, writing and traveling her way through everyday life.
Imagination was instilled in her as child, and she has carried it with her through the years.
“Growing up, I was the only girl and I had my own room. I would spend hours in my room playing with paper dolls and dress-up clothes and who knows what. I had lots of toys and lots of time with myself to develop an imagination. I think it’s (art) just an extension of what I used to do when I was very young.”
Time moved on and Lauer-Cheenne grew up, but she never outgrew her desire to create, even when her life seemed to move away from art. Eventually, she attended the University of Iowa, graduated with a bachelor’s in French and literally walked into her future.
“It was pure coincidence,” she said of what happened next. “I was on campus one day and I happened to be in a building where there were Peace Corps representatives. I walked in, took the materials, filled out the application, sent it in and it came back with an offer and I thought, ‘Well, I don’t have anything else to do.’”
Unbeknownst to her, the opportunity to teach English in the Ivory Coast would define the rest of her life. At the end of her two-year stint with the Peace Corps, she decided to work in France for a short while. It was there that she met her husband and developed a love for photography.
“I started taking photographs as a way to pass the time, and I just kept working with it,” she said.
Lauer-Cheenne found that she had a natural talent for art and soon began painting, drawing and creating mixed media collages. She recently finished her first book, “Souvenirs,” which draws on her experiences in the Ivory Coast.
The novel, like so many things in her life, is simply another layer of creativity to add to the collage of her life.
“Life is really just layer upon layer upon layer of experience and expertise,” she said.
Reach Liz Stinson at 473-7254 or at estinson@journalstar.com.
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