Statement/ Artist Mission
Research on the lifeways and adaptability of native wildlife species to their environment is essential to my practice. My works represent flora and fauna, such as pollinating insects, hummingbirds, and bats as well as plants and terrestrial mammals such as predators, omnivores, and herbivores, that are native to the state of Oklahoma and surrounding regions.
As a natural science illustrator and conceptual artist, I am influenced by ecology and the biological sciences, specifically the complexities that have contributed to a drastic decline of biodiversity worldwide, namely habitat loss. A large portion of wildlife around the world are at risk of survival in an expanding human-centric world. Through my work, I aim to learn of and share the similarities wildlife have with humanity. Our species’ expansion comes with great responsibility. Having recognition and respect for organisms who live nearby is necessary to sustain both wildlife and functional habitats.
Life in reciprocity with our surrounding world is a necessity. The concept of my work is based on this and our reliance on differences among living beings that make up the natural world, such as topsoil formation from dead plant materials. If more human beings reciprocate well-being and gentleness to wildlife, there will be more room for compassion when Opossum waddles across a public space to eat ticks in the nearby forest.
BIO
Lauren Rosenfelt is Chicana, a descendant of Southern Mexico with mixed European lineages. She is a freelance, natural science illustrator, artist and plant ecologist currently living and working in Norman, Oklahoma. She recently graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s in science (MS), and in 2014 she graduated from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma with a BFA and minor in Liberal Arts. The concept of “place” plays an important role in her work as she focuses on highlighting the essence of native wildlife and plant species through research on the lifeways and adaptability of each species to their environment.
Lauren has worked with clientele ranging from private commissions to commercial and nonprofit organizations. She has worked with the City of Norman, WildCare Oklahoma, the Myriad Botanical Gardens, and has artwork on display at Scissortail Park, the Museum of Osteology, DNA Galleries, and Norman Firehouse Art Gallery. She has shown in several galleries in Central Oklahoma and has worked to bring the arts and Oklahoma environmental organizations to her community in Little Axe through her community project “This is Place”, a wildflower garden and art space. Lauren has been an active board member for Inclusion In Art since 2022 and became Vice President in 2024.
