Lauren uses her creative offerings in the public realm to amplify neighborhoods and communities. In this way, she engages with groups on how they want to express their collective voice through art and facilitates the process to ensure its successful development and implementation. Her fine art, which honors the human experience through abstracted symbols and portraiture as a means of storytelling, is represented by dk Gallery in Marietta, GA.

Lauren has a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Michigan. She earned a Post Graduate diploma with the University of the South Pacific in Education through the lens of Integrated Arts and Culture. She taught English Language Learners in the Marshall Islands for five years and was a certified ELL teacher in Medford, Massachusetts from 2005-2008. She finds that the strategies for being a good teacher for English Language Learners are the same as being a good teacher in general: understanding your students’ background knowledge, having cultural competence, and having empathy for various learning styles through differentiated instruction.

Arts Disciplines: Visual Art

Core Content Curriculum Areas: English/Language Arts, Visual Art, Science, Social Studies/History, Math

Specialized Content Areas: Arts Integration, STEAM, ELL (English Language Learners), Literacy, World Cultures

Grade Levels: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 

Special Populations: ELL (English Language Learners)

Pre-Service Learning and Professional Development: Professional Development for K-12 Teachers, Post-Secondary/Pre-Service Learning

Geographic Availability: Metro Atlanta

Program Fees:

• Workshops: Workshop planning with teachers: $250/day; half day with students: $300; full day with students: $500
• Residencies: Week-long: $2,000; month-long: $7,500

Artistic Profile:

Lauren received a 2017 Emerging Artist Award from the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs. She was also awarded the 2017 Laura Patricia Calle grant from Living Walls to lead a 5-female-artist mural collaboration celebrating unity. She has received public commissions from the cities of Norcross, Hapeville, and Atlanta to create public art. She has a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design. She also serves on the boards of C4 Atlanta and Fourth Ward Neighbors Association.

During her time in the Marshall Islands, Lauren was a founding member of Jambo Arts, an international arts collective in Majuro, Marshall Islands that hosted two exhibitions per year of visual and performing arts. During her nine months in Sicily, she was in three exhibitions, two of them solo shows. Since being in Atlanta, public art has become an integral part of her practice. She has painted murals and worked with communities throughout Atlanta and in Norcross. She also sells work at small boutiques around town and is a freelance Graphic Designer. In March/April 2017, she showed work at Chastain Arts Center as part of the Emerging Artist Award exhibition. She is represented by dk Gallery in Marietta, GA.

Her mission is to honor the human experience through abstracted symbols and portraiture as a means of storytelling. She also uses her creative offerings in the public realm to amplify neighborhoods. In this way, she engages with communities on how they want to express their collective voice through art. This process can either be very hands-on with the stakeholders or more artist-driven, depending on the needs of the neighborhood, budget and/or building owner. 

Teaching Experience:

After graduating college, Lauren lived and worked abroad in the Marshall Islands in various capacities related to international development through education, including teaching, teacher training, and non-profit management. During her time there, she earned a Post Graduate diploma with the University of the South Pacific by completing four graduate courses in Education through the lens of Integrated Arts and Culture. Once back in the States, she taught English Language Learners in Massachusetts for three years with the City of Medford and became a certified teacher.

In Atlanta, she has volunteered with programs such as drawchange and the Women’s Transitional Center to make art with marginalized communities. She has three years of experience as a certified ELL teacher in Massachusetts. In the Marshall Islands, she taught English, Math and Science for grades 1-8 at an elementary school for two years on a remote island with limited supplies. Creativity and resourcefulness were her greatest assets. She also managed a non-profit for one year as Field Director in the Marshall Islands, and coordinated teacher training for volunteers for two summers. Finally, she worked as a Teacher Trainer and Language Arts Specialist with the Marshall Islands Ministry of Education for two years. In that time she also partnered with the School Enrichment Program to teach art workshops in the summer.

Lauren finds that the strategies for being a good teacher for English Language Learners are the same as being a good teacher in general: understanding your students’ background knowledge, having cultural competence, and having empathy for various learning styles through differentiated instruction. She believes in integrating the arts into all subjects, whether it’s showing how weaving patterns can teach math or how science can be amplified through drawing and painting.

Sample Programs:

• Community Mural Project: Adaptable for Grades 3-12: Artist Lauren Stumberg will facilitate a community mural project whose content is driven by student-generated ideas. This program is suitable and adaptable for grades 3-12. Themes will be determined by school and/or community. Once the theme is established, Stumberg will lead two classroom/brainstorming sessions to build background knowledge on public art and related grade-appropriate artistic concepts and brainstorm ideas through word-mapping and drawing concept designs based on the theme. Students can paint design mockup at second session if relevant. These designs can be literal or abstract, depending on age and critical thinking skills. Murals can be painted by community or by artist, depending on needs of school/community.

Sample Lesson Plans/Study Guides:

• Example Programs and Lesson Plans
• Sample Lesson – Fourth Ward Neighbors Mural

• Listing ID: 6027