Your WCA: Kristin Osgood Lamelas

Lamelas is currently the President of the Women’s Caucus for Art Philadelphia Chapter.

Kristin Osgood Lamelas is a Philadelphia born artist, currently living in New Jersey. She donated a kidney to her father in 2011. Since then, her mixed-media paintings reference aerial views of specific landscapes and images of cells from her own body.

Lamelas earned a full scholarship to Moore College of Art and Design and earned her BFA. She received her art education certification from Rowan University, and is a graduate of the inaugural 2011 MFA class of Moore College Art and Design. She has traveled extensively and visited museums all over the world. She studied classical painting in Florence, Italy, Philadelphia and California. Her work is in numerous private collections and has been exhibited locally, including the Woodmere Museum, Holy Family University and internationally in Venice, Bermuda and Ireland. Her work is in the permanent collections of Moore College of Art and Design and the Philadelphia High School for Girls.

Lamelas enjoys teaching graphic design and photography to her students at West Deptford High School and has been working there for the past thirteen years. In 2008 she was awarded the Art Educators of New Jersey's Teacher of the Year. Lamelas has served as VP of AENJ South and was elected President of the Women's Caucus for Art Philadelphia Chapter in July 2013. Since then she has worked very hard to rebuild and revive the chapter. WCA Philadelphia now has a strong and active community of female artists. She is happily married and loves life as a new mother.

Time Capsule Series

Below: Time capsule series, 4’x4’, cells, maps, acrylic, shellac, oil

Artist Statement

My work engages the dichotomies of figure and landscape. Through a process of layering, it encapsulates specific moments in time, drawing attention to our symbiotic relationship with nature.

The intuitive, spontaneous gestures used in making the work provide evidence of the body physically in the final piece. Geometric grids are layered on organic shapes, demonstrating how chaos exists within order and order within chaos.

Aerial views of the earth demonstrate the way it has been carved by man, like scars on the body. I use maps of specific locations and cells from my own body as a reference. The sense of looking simultaneously at both a microcosm and a macrocosm is created, encouraging the viewer to be enveloped and providing them the opportunity to investigate a natural topography created within the materials.

Ultimately, these works celebrate the beauty and preciousness of life.