Lauren Toomer
Ground, Land, Road, 2022
Graphite on paper
Lauren Toomer renders hushed moments and stilled spaces across the four joined up panels of Ground, Land, Road. In this composition, nothing seems to happen amidst the clear signs of human presence. Parked cars line both sides of a residential street, suggesting residents’ comings and goings. Perched on a bungalow’s steps, a man is drawn as form constructed of contrasting values. Lush vegetation is an aspect of all four drawings, suggesting that nature is ubiquitous and significant. Richly detailed, Ground, Land, Road also registers as an abstraction informed by photography—the format often received as true and irrefutably real. Born in San Francisco and raised in San Mateo County, Toomer also has family ties that link her to the American South.
She forged her professional career in the Bay Area. She studied art at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University, earning a BA and an MFA, respectively. She teaches in Stanford’s Art and Art History Department and at its medical school, offering interdisciplinary curriculum about figure drawing, anatomy, and medical humanities to undergraduate and graduate students.
Photos courtesy of Henrik Kam.
ARTIST BIO
Lauren Toomer is a visual artist whose loosely figurative art explores the day-to-day happenings that often rest in our periphery—like a stream of water, a quiet residence, a still body. Graphite drawing serves as her home base, while she also rigorously explores painting and outdoor installations. Toomer obtained her MFA at Stanford University and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, summa cum laude. Toomer received the Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Fellowship from the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and the Drawing of Excellence Award. After obtaining her MFA, Toomer received a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Art and Art History and the Department of Surgery at Stanford University. She is committed to advancing the fields of medical humanities and studio art through teaching, and as the Faculty Director of Visual Arts for the Medicine and the Muse program.
Toomer’s exhibition history includes the San Francisco Art Commission Gallery, Art on Paper Miami, the San Jose Tech Museum, the Annual Global Fund for Women Benefit, and SCOPE NY. Artworks created by Toomer are on permanent display at the Fair Oaks Health Center in Redwood City, the Kaiser Permanente boardroom in Oakland, the Center for Clinical Science Research at Stanford, and the Center for Academic Medicine. Toomer maintains a dedicated studio practice in San Francisco.
