Lori Schappe-Youens is an artist who expresses her emotions through the combination of color, texture and imagery onto her chosen substrate. Her work is often described as abstract expression which adequately represents the style of painting she has grown into.
Lori has worked for almost 30 years in two different continents and her style has developed accordingly. An intuitive painter, Schappe-Youens prefers not to “over think” the process as she begins a new work. Delving vigoursly into the body of the piece it is only by the third or fourth layer that the story begins to unfold. Vacillating between loving color and being moved by the energy and intensity of how the two properties play with one another visually, Lori longs for a neutral, quiet palette of whites and greys.
There is often a story the work ends up telling, an understanding of life’s mysteries, of humor and angst. Schappe-Youens reflects, “painting is a very personal journey, to lay yourself out naked for all to see and judge. It is a journey that I have chosen in this life and I cannot fathom doing anything else. It was etched into my bones and soul long before I entered this earth.”
Born in Madison Wisconsin, Lori studied Botany and Fine Art at the University of Wisconsin.She lived in Wisconsin and Michigan while painting and running a fine art gallery in Michigan for seven years until moving to South Africa in 1993. Lori’s work is represented in several fine art galleries in the United States as well as South Africa. Her work is collected internationally.
