Featured Artists

The Lamp Art Project offers materials, space, and instruction to dozens of Lamp members and residents. Here are a few of the artists that have benefited greatly from this unique program.

Darlene Altemeier Dobbs

Darlene began painting when she was six years old at the urging of a grandmother who would give her a canvas and tell her to go outside to find something to paint. She stopped painting when her grandmother became ill, but began again seven years ago as a member of the Lamp Community Art Project.

Today, she says, she has 40 years of painting inside her. Now an assistant with the Art Project, she still finds inspiration outside, and five years ago, she began painting cityscapes of Downtown Los Angeles that she describes as "somewhere between realism and cartoon."

Darlene on her work:

"Painting means everything to me. I always use bright colors, even if the subject matter is controversial. My art reflects my outlook on life, and I always try to see the positive. When someone looks at my work, I want them to feel good. Sometimes it's hard to grasp something positive, but that's how I get through life."

 

Gary Brown

Soon after moving from Los Angeles from his home state of Louisiana, Gary Brown was living on the streets of Skid Row. But it's making art that he credits with turning his life around.

Seven years ago, Gary, also a jazz musician, joined the Lamp Art Project and began creating works on paper, canvas, board and other materials using graphite, inks, pastels and acrylics. He says that he chooses his subject matter from the work around him.

Gary on his work:

"Making art is like a mystery. And I never had much mystery in my life. I just do it from the life I live, the life I see, the life I understand or don't understand. I'm really an abstract person, maybe due to my mental illness."

 

 

Vytautas Pliura

Vytautas' work pays homage to his childhood on a Central Illinois farm, raising Angus cattle, corn and soybeans. One of the first artists to join Lamp's Art Project, Vytautas began painting 15 years ago after participating in art therapy during a stint in the hospital for what he describes as "problems with bipolar swings and with depression."

His work is influenced by American landscape artists George Inness and Winslow Homer. He is also a playwright and poet who studied fine arts at UCLA in the 1970s, and whose written work has been published in several books and journals.

Vytautas on his work:

"Making art gives me a sense of relief that I can't find anywhere else. It's like a steam valve that allows me to let the pressure out of the pressure cooker. A lot of my work is what I call lyrical. I try to paint things I would like to crawl into and sleep in."