Lavonia grew up in rural Mississippi. She loved chasing the sun through the trees and drawing unicorns and bugs and birds with colored jewels in their foreheads. In college, she attained an art's degree with her classes structured primarily around printmaking. The artist has taught fine art painting and worked as … Read More
Lavonia grew up in rural Mississippi. She loved chasing the sun through the trees and drawing unicorns and bugs and birds with colored jewels in their foreheads. In college, she attained an art's degree with her classes structured primarily around printmaking. The artist has taught fine art painting and worked as a illustrator.
She has spent the last decade struggling with an extremely rare spinal condition. Chronic pain and loss of much of her leg function has additionally influenced her new work. “I use to internalize a lot of the pain and try to keep it out of my work; the wheelchair forced me to externalize my experiences but I still do it in my own way. Because of this, all of my girls are scarred and broken and beautiful in some way.”
Her work has evolved to focus primarily on feminine figures juxtaposing sharp detail and soft dreamlike settings. Each piece often makes a emotional, simple statement with additional iconography left to the viewer's interpretation. Read Less
