Lauren Halsey facts for kids

Lauren Halsey is an American artist born in Los Angeles, California, in 1987. She creates amazing art using buildings and installations. Her work often shows what life is like in city neighborhoods, especially places like South Central, Los Angeles.

Her Early Life and Education

Lauren Halsey was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1987. When she was younger, she dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player.

She finished high school in 2005 at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies. After that, she spent five years at El Camino Community College in Torrance, California.

Later, Lauren went to the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) from 2008 to 2012. There, she earned a special art degree called a BFA. She then continued her studies at Yale University from 2012 to 2014, earning another art degree called an MFA.

Her Art and Projects

Lauren Halsey gets ideas from many great artists. Some of her biggest inspirations include Betye Saar, Overton Loyd, Mike Kelley, Dominique Moody, and Mark Bradford.

Early Projects

From 2012 to 2014, Lauren worked on a project called Harlem Postcards. This project was shown at The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York. During this time, she was also finishing her studies at CalArts and starting at Yale.

In 2015, her art was part of an exhibition called United at Coney Island Art Walls. That same year, she also showed her work in Everything, Everyday at The Studio Museum. In 2016, she even created a special float for the Kingdom Day Parade in Los Angeles.

Major Exhibitions

In 2018, Lauren Halsey had solo art shows at important places. These included the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA). Her work was also shown at the Hammer Museum.

She quickly became well-known in the Los Angeles art world. In 2018, she won the Mohn Award. The next year, in 2019, she won the Frieze Artist Award.

Her art was also part of a traveling exhibition in 2019. It was called Young, Gifted, and Black: The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art.

Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I) (2023) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 2022, the Metropolitan Museum of Art asked Lauren Halsey to create an outdoor artwork. This special piece was for the museum's rooftop garden. It was a big honor, as she was the tenth artist chosen for this project.

The exhibition was planned for 2023. It was delayed a bit due to shipping problems from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lauren designed a piece called the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I). It was an open-air building shaped like a cube. It looked like ancient Egyptian architecture.

The artwork had four sphinx statues and several tall, standing columns. The white walls of the building and columns were covered in etchings. These etchings included phrases, names, drawings, and symbols. They referenced black culture and especially Halsey's community in South Central, Los Angeles.

The sphinx sculptures and other statues in the artwork looked like Lauren's friends and family. Her mother, Glenda, was one of the people featured. The installation was on display from April to October 2023. Lauren hopes to move the artwork permanently to South Central after the exhibition.

A famous art critic, Holland Cotter, wrote about the piece in The New York Times. He called it "a kind of space station/sanctuary." He also said it was "one of the best" rooftop garden artworks the museum had ever shown.

Art at the Venice Biennale

keepers of the krown (2024) at the 60th Venice Biennale

In 2024, Lauren Halsey created another outdoor artwork. This was for the 60th Venice Biennale, a very important art show in Italy. Her installation was part of the main exhibition, Foreigners Everywhere.

Her artwork was called keepers of the krown. It was similar to her previous works. It featured several tall, white columns. These columns were decorated with faces, drawings, and text. They referenced people and places from Lauren's community.

The columns were placed with three matching white benches. They were outside the main Arsenale building.

Community Work

Lauren Halsey believes in giving back to her community. In 2019, she worked with Nike to create a collection of sneakers, socks, and t-shirts.

She also started the Summaeverythang Community Center. This project helps people in her neighborhood. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the center provided organic fruits, vegetables, and other important items to people who needed them.

Lauren used her own savings and donations from the Summaeverythang website to fund this project. In July 2020, she teamed up with Korina Matyas, a childhood friend and environmentalist, to officially start Summaeverythang. They donated about 600 boxes of organic produce every week during 2020.

Awards and Recognition

Lauren Halsey has received many awards for her amazing art.

• In 2011, she won The Beutner Family Award of Excellence in the Arts from the California Institute of the Arts.
• She received a scholarship from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2014.
• From 2014 to 2015, she was an Artist-in-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. She transformed their Mezzanine Gallery with her exhibition Everything, Everyday.
• In 2015, she received the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist grant.
• She won the William H. Johnson Price in 2017.
• Also in 2017, she was given the Edge Award from the Los Angeles Design Festival.
• In 2018, Lauren received $100,000 for the Mohn Award, which celebrates artistic excellence.
• In 2019, she was named the winner of the Frieze Art award. This came with $25,000 to create new art for the Frieze New York art fair.
• Also in 2019, she received the Painter and Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New York.
• In 2021, Lauren Halsey received the Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Prize from the Seattle Art Museum.