Biography

I’m Lawren Rich (he/they), a Winnipeg-based painter with over 35 years of professional experience.

I studied Graphic Design at Red River College in the late 1980s, while also attending life drawing sessions at the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Open Studio program, developing a strong foundation in drawing and observation.

Following my studies, I gained practical experience through commercial mural and restoration projects, including work on Winnipeg landmarks such as the Hotel Fort Garry. These large-scale projects provided a unique apprenticeship environment, where I worked alongside skilled craftspeople specializing in traditional techniques such as gilding, decorative finishing, and restoration. The experience offered an invaluable education in both craftsmanship and creative problem-solving.

Over time, I combined this hands-on experience with my background in design and drawing to develop a distinctive painting practice. My work explores architecture, landscape, atmosphere, and memory through a contemporary approach that balances abstraction with recognizable subject matter.

My paintings are represented by galleries including Woodlands Gallery in Winnipeg and Webster Galleries in Calgary, and are featured in private, corporate, and public collections across Canada. I have participated in exhibitions nationally and internationally, including a group exhibition in Ferrara, Italy, and was selected by Golden Artist Colors as an educational representative in Manitoba.

Community engagement remains an important part of my practice. I regularly teach workshops for emerging artists, have served as a juror for regional art exhibitions, and support numerous charitable and cultural organizations through artwork donations and fundraising initiatives.

Outside the studio, I perform jazz guitar at small venues around Winnipeg. Much like my painting practice, my approach to music emphasizes expression, atmosphere, improvisation, and a thoughtful use of space.

Artist Statement

Living and working on the Canadian prairies, I have always been influenced by the energy of the urban centre where I grew up, the vast rural landscapes beyond it, and the compelling contrasts between the two.

As a contemporary painter working between representation and abstraction, I aim to create work that remains accessible. In my prairie paintings, I am often less interested in describing every detail of a familiar landscape than in capturing its atmosphere and quiet emotional presence. Likewise, my urban work tends to focus on overlooked structures, weathered surfaces, and signs of age rather than idealized landmarks or polished streetscapes. I am drawn to places that feel lived-in, imperfect, and evolving.

During a significant mid-career period spent in a rural community, I developed a deeper connection to the lake-prairie environment, inspiring a body of work rooted in the landscapes I encountered around my home and during countless bicycle journeys. Now living once again in Winnipeg, I continue to move freely between urban and rural subjects. Increasingly, these influences intersect, sharing common approaches to colour, mood, texture, and atmosphere, and opening new possibilities within the work.

My current paintings explore themes of impermanence, memory, and transformation. I am interested in the beauty of things that are weathered, rusted, broken, or slowly returning to the earth; the distant haze of an old photograph; or the fading presence of vintage signs nearly lost to time. Through a restrained palette, layered glazes, and textured surfaces, I often seek to create a sense of gentle erosion and renewal. As darker forms dissolve and lighter tones emerge, I look for a sense of hope and quiet resilience carried through the work by light itself.

To further develop these ideas, I incorporate materials such as metal leaf and other mixed-media elements, building each piece through layers of texture, surface, and abstraction. These additions allow the work to move beyond traditional painting and become a more physical process of construction, accumulation, and discovery.

Accepting the continual evolution of both art and artist, I regularly revisit, revise, recycle, or retire work that no longer reflects my current direction. Paintings remain open and unfinished to me until they leave the studio, existing as part of an ongoing process of refinement, exploration, and change.