Have Our Hands Ever Left the Soil? An Interview with Artist Tuere Lawton

 Tuere Lawton, “Have our hands ever left the soil?” at Picture Theory

By OCEANA ANDRIES February 13, 2025

Tuere Lawton is an oil painter who was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.  She graduated from Skidmore College in 2016 and is now presenting her debut solo exhibition, "Have Our Hands Ever Left the Soil?" with Picture Theory. Lawton's artwork encourages us to explore our identities, reflecting on our childhoods and the significance of those around us. Community and connectedness echo throughout the works showcased.

 The Rite, 2024, oil on canvas, 9 x 10 in

The Rite, 2024 contains three young girls, all dressed in white. They turn towards the viewers, but their faces are scratched off. Pink surrounds them, and they each hold an unknown plant in their right hand. Though faceless, with an uneasy textural background and compositional similarity to the iconic scene in The Shining, the mood evokes a gentle nostalgia. This artwork evokes memories of a Sunday morning spent preparing for church, where your mother made sure you and your companions looked picture-perfect. The feelings of nostalgia and connection that this piece inspires are intentional elements that Lawton infuses into her work. In the following answers, Lawton further elaborates on her artistic practice.

Please tell me a bit about yourself as an artist.

My name is Tuere, I'm from Brooklyn, NY and I live in NJ. I mainly oil paint and I focus a lot on the figure.

How does your background or identity influence your artistic practice?

My work is definitely tied to who I am in that I paint women that embody different parts of me. I draw from my memories, family photographs and family history to make my work so without my background there would arguably be no work.

What central theme do you want to communicate through your work?

The theme of the experience of girlhood and how it evolves from generation to generation <3

What I gave you, 2024 oil on canvas
 

Could you describe your creative process? How do you develop an idea into a finished piece?

I'm really not much of a planner (sometimes to my detriment) but I spend a lot of time looking at images, reading, walking/running in nature, and a series of scenes will kind of just appear in my mind. Sometimes the scene is clear but other times it's images related to a feeling that I want to convey, and I kind of work at it from there.

What challenges do you face in your practice?

I think right now my biggest challenge is that I have so many ideas, that I get self conscious that the work isn't as focused or cohesive as I would like, but I get so excited to try something new :’) Maybe this year I'll be able to whittle some things down.

How do you hope audiences will engage with your work?

Oh, I hope that they can connect with some of the images. I hope it makes them think about their family, and about girlhood. Mostly, I feel the most excited when people have questions. That signifies to me that it's making them wonder, which is a wonderful feeling to evoke in an audience. Wonder signifies to me that the work made them feel something…maybe something they can't quite place yet. It means the work is sticking with them a little, enough to formulate questions…and that makes me happy. WM

Have our hands ever left the soil? will be on view until February 14th, 2025, at Picture Theory, Address: 548 W 28th St Ste 238, New York, NY 10001