Meet Lori Lejeune | Visual Artist & Creative Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lori Lejeune and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lori, why did you pursue a creative career?
I’m an Atlanta area creative entrepreneur and visual artist. To me, creativity is turning ideas and dreams into reality. My belief is that the ability to be creative is accessible to all of us, whether we express ourselves through dance, music, words, paint, pottery, pixels, or through the numerous other ways that are possible.

I’ve been creative for as long as I can remember: drawing and creating artwork, choreographing, baking, building things and writing. My artistic ability was encouraged by my school teachers growing up in Louisiana, and the first time I received money for my artwork was in 4th grade when I won $20 for a poster that I drew for a parish-wide contest. Early on in high school, I began blending my creative bent with technology. Although I mainly created representational artwork with traditional media early in my career, ultimately I began incorporating digital elements into my artwork.

One of the highly appealing things about being an artist and creative entrepreneur is that there is a lot of flexibility, and you can express your creativity in multiple ways. However you do have to get used to having some failures, and hearing a lot of “no” particularly in the beginning; and if you want to move forward then you learn from it, try again another way and view setbacks as a natural part of the path to more success. I was inspired by the careers of artists like Rene Magritte and Andy Warhol who created design and advertising work along with their fine art. So in addition to my fine art pursuits, I’ve worked as a graphics artist, flash animator, web designer and email marketer; and I’ve been lucky to work with many wonderful clients. Throughout my career, I’ve created and sold art for public sites and modern spaces. I’ve been fortunate to have my artwork purchased for several public collections and museums, such as Fulton County, Georgia’s public art collection and the Museum of South Texas.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In 2006, I was inspired to experiment with round artwork by the lovely late artist Diane Hause when she invited fellow artists in Atlanta to exhibit work that was mounted onto recycled compact disks. This led to the development of my signature style of installation work by 2010 where round shapes of varying sizes are combined to create elegant patterns on walls. Many people say the organic patterns in my work remind them of a constellation. Over the past decade, my constellation-style installations have been recognized in multiple exhibits in Atlanta, Texas and South Carolina including by ArtFields, which recognizes visual artists of the Southeast. My dream for my large-scale wall installation artwork is to have it permanently installed in spaces like corporate offices, airports and other public sites.

My work is primarily mixed media and cross-disciplinary, where new media digital elements are often combined with paint and traditional fine art techniques. My FLIGHT series, which is imagery of birds and other creatures with wings that overcome gravity through flight, often appears in my wall installation work. The FLIGHT series is uplifting and stands for overcoming the forces in life that weigh us down.

2020 was a hard, challenging year for just about everyone. It felt devastating when most of my projects and all of my in-person art exhibits for the entire year were canceled. When I ended up on Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for several months, I used the time to dream and think about alternate ways to bring artwork to people that could be experienced outside and would spark joy. I began working with industrial plastics and vinyl for exterior and interior spaces, starting with my BE THE CHANGE installation.

So in 2021, through the generous support of sponsoring businesses and organizations in my community, I installed the 10-foot-long art banner of fanciful butterflies on vinyl called BE THE CHANGE on the town square in Decatur. The title of the installation is based on the popular saying that’s seen on social media, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” meaning take positive actions and aspire to be the beneficial change you would like to see happen instead of waiting on others. BE THE CHANGE offered an interactive photo opportunity when standing in between the butterfly wings to anyone who resonated with its message and wanted to comment on the change in the world that they aspire to be. It felt rewarding to see people interact with the art installation.

My ultimate dream remains the same for my large-scale wall installation artwork to be permanently installed in modern spaces and public sites. But it also would be great to do more commissions of murals on vinyl for indoor and outdoor spaces.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love living in greater Atlanta in Decatur, Georgia. Georgia has a great deal of natural beauty with lakes, mountains, hiking trails and the most waterfalls of any place I’ve lived. Decatur’s town square is very charming and has appeared in several films and shows. The Square and surrounding streets have amazing restaurants, bars and shops. You could spend at least a week exploring all the deliciousness since it’s a food, craft beer and craft cocktail destination. There is public art everywhere: sculptures, murals, art on the traffic boxes and more; you can get more details by stopping by the Decatur Visitors Center and Arts Alliance. But if you visit the Square, be sure to look for one of the Secret Doors, a miniature door at the base of the bandstand gazebo, installed by Decatur artist Larry Holland. As an artist, Larry Holland is also the creative mastermind behind several community art projects such as the Secret Doors, #lookupdecatur, and the Decatur Traffic Box art project. Moving on, the city of Atlanta has great museums and too many popular attractions to list them all. But, for people who appreciate garden walks, I recommend visiting the beautiful Atlanta Botanical Garden, which has an orchid house and is ranked as one of the top gardens in the U.S. If you enjoy parks, you can register in advance for free tours of lovely Piedmont Park on most Saturdays or just visit any day to enjoy the walking trails and views of Lake Clara Meer. If you’re a movie fan, you can see this park in many movies!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A big thank you to everyone who supports me: to those of you giving me a thumbs up, to my collectors, clients, sponsors, supportive colleagues, to my wonderful husband John Etnyre, and to Shoutout — you’re the best. I appreciate all of you who have sponsored and selected my artwork for your curatorial projects, homes and spaces with extra thanks to: Erika Ward Interiors @mrserikaward, Brian Hebert @bern_174 curator at Arts Clayton Gallery, everyone at the Decatur Arts Alliance @decatur_arts_alliance and the Fulton County Public Art Program @fultonpublicart.

Website: www.studiolejeune.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/lorilejeuneart

Image Credits
Portrait in pink by David Clifton-Strawn; Other images courtesy of Lori Lejeune