Meet Laurey Bennett-Levy: Artist and Art Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Laurey Bennett-Levy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Laurey, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“I shall gather myself into myself again, I shall take my scattered selves and make them one, Fusing them into a polished crystal ball Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun.” — Sara Teasdale. My beloved grandmother gave this to my mother when she was struggling. My mother then gave it to me in kind. As I’ve read it over the years, I use it as a reminder of my strength and trust in myself. I definitely use art as a distraction to repair, but the discipline truly consistently connects and ignites me as my life constantly changes up.  

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Emerged from travel, personal freedom, this series called “MITER”, launching in NYC Soho this spring, is a union formed between two edges that meet at an intersection. With this series, I rely on city lattice work. This sequence of work provokes one to notice an existence of unobserved portals into a subterranean system that has been redefined through my artist’s eye as I am constantly reducing them into irregular abstract form. What I find astonishing is that random individuals are the creators, but become redefined by my artist’s eye recognizing the splendor in the beauty of the unnoticed. My work merges my competence as a graphic designer and fine artist as I deconstruct and reconstruct abstract grids using merged processes such as photography, digital manipulation, monoprinting, cyanotypes, painting and collage. Currently I am committed to cyanotypes with other mediums because I consider it an endless, graphic and vastly unexplored medium flexible to integrate with other mediums.

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?
Of course there’s tons of culture here but for tourists LA is about shopping, eating and walking. Here is the perfect trifecta: 1] Santa Monica/Marina/Venice Eat: Gjelina, Scopa or Felix. Walk it off: Stroll and also shop on Abbot Kinney down to Venice Canals and lastly to Venice Beach. 2] Malibu Eat: Nobu Malibu or Malibu Farm Restaurant or Cafe on the Pier. Have a Frozé! Walk it off: Malibu Lagoon State Beach. Shop: Malibu Country Mart. 3] DTLA Eat: Grand Central Market for a light bite at one of the vendors. Walk it off: DTLA Arts District around 4th Street and South Hewitt. After each of these days, relax with a $25 hour Thai or Chinese massage that are ubiquitous in LA! Don’t forget about how to dress. Layering for cool evenings and hot days and go casual trendy.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Mara, my 19 year old, also an artist, who constantly guides me when I have a block. My older 22 year old daughter who keeps me on track with social justice. My mom for allowing me freedom to curate what made me happy. Arts for LA and The LA County Arts Education Collective both for selecting me as a fellow to help restore quality and equality in arts education. Currently I am developing my art program called SNAP [Supplemental National Art Program @snapartprogram] which is a short term step-by-step art curriculum encouraging expression, easily facilitated by anyone who has not received instruction in visual arts.

Website: laureybennettlevy.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laureybennettlevy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laureybennettlevy
Other: https://www.instagram.com/snapartprogram