Artist of the week

Steffi Lamb

0
607
Steffi Lamb '23 shares how her talent of painting became something more than a hobby.

New to Muhlenberg, first year student Steffi Lamb ‘23 is already making strides, or paintbrush strokes, in the campus community as an artist. Having had an interest in art since she was very young, Lamb describes her first inspirations to create after she began looking at pieces of art that her brother drew and wanting to recreate them in her own way.

 “It was one of my favorite things to do when I was younger,” Lamb commented. “I remember that whenever I had free time I would draw. I also loved to make cards for people’s birthdays, too.”

What started out as a hobby has turned into a lifelong passion. While Lamb used art as a creative outlet growing up, she started to “get more serious” with art as a sophomore in high school. Through her AP Studio Art class that she took as a senior, she began to deepen her practice and create more abstract, detailed work, adding painting to her artistic style. Last year, she also created twelve paintings portraying the story of a mermaid. Her love for creating has never gone away, as she plans to minor in Studio Art and is currently taking a Drawing Studio class to learn more techniques and improve her skills.

Lamb describes her style as “more abstract than realistic,” and loves leaving her art up for interpretation when people view her pieces. She cites music as one of her biggest inspirations for creating, and says that a lot of her pieces turn out the way they do based on the kind of music she listens to while she works on them. “For example, if I’m listening to slow songs, my piece turns out more smooth and blended, while if I listen to more upbeat songs, you can definitely see more brushstrokes appear in my paintings, and they seem to be sharper than others,” Lamb explained.

 Music not only plays a huge role in her life, but also in her art, describing her taste as “a wide variety of just about everything.”

Lamb enjoys painting faces and human figures the most, and her favorite artistic medium is acrylic paint. Her love for abstract art usually adds a unique and unexpected twist in her work, usually portraying more of a “non-realistic” feel.

 Lamb enjoys painting and drawing 2D figures with specific details that make her work stand out. In her portfolio, she has a wide array of different figures and faces, all with hidden meanings of their own.

“I would say I really get inspired based off of real life situations that may or may not have happened to me or someone I know,” she commented. “But also, I sometimes create a story in my head that I want to illustrate in a piece or a series of pieces.”

One of her pieces that tells a story is a piece Lamb created in her high school AP art class called “Bursting at the Seams.” In this specific piece, she tackles the issue of eating disorders and mental health, and offers a perspective of someone dealing with such struggles. “The meaning behind the piece is that people with some sort of mental disorder have a different personality than it may seem,” she explains. “I really like this painting because of its meaning, but also because of its style with all the visible brushstrokes and the contrast between black, white and all the colors.”

Upon speaking to Lamb, it is very clear that creating is her passion, and she has many plans for future art pieces. She can’t wait for her next projects and looks forward to further exploring the arts at Muhlenberg!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here