Popp’s artwork is being shown at the Kentuck Art Center this July. Her collection consists of a variety of different sculptures using the outdoors as her theme.
Popp lives on a farm in a rural area of Tennessee. She works with the land and animals each day and has become fascinated with the world of nature.
“I am a quiet observer type, and am always watching this world of nature around me,” Popp said. “I am sort of like a farmer Jane Goodall.”
Popp’s work consists of materials that she finds on the farm such as wool, sticks and seeds. She wants her art to show society that domestic animals should have more respect. She believes that animals are important, intelligent beings, and she wants that to be evident in her art.
Ginger Cobl, the owner of The Cupboard in Decatur, was the first person that carried Popp’s artwork. Cobl said Popp can turn basic substances into something inspiring.
“[Popp] can take this raw wool and go crazy with it,” Cobl said. “She has this whimsical way of dealing with the life and death feeling on the farm.”
Even though Popp’s art has whimsical qualities, she wants people to receive the message that animals should be treated with importance and respect.
“It would be great if people would realize animals are intelligent beings and deserve to be treated ethically,” she said. “The personality of the animal sculptures appears as the piece is created. Every one of them is unique.”
Popp’s use of felt in some of her pieces gives her art its distinct quality. She grows the wool and then dyes it herself. She set up this particular exhibit like a diorama because it reveals her artistic experience in the world of theater.
“I suppose my felted art is different than other artists because I like to leave it looser and keep the tactile fiber in the piece,” she said.
When people go and see Popp’s exhibit, she wants them to pay attention to the texture of the pieces and to imagine the animals as if they were living beings, even though some of the creatures she sculptured are of her own creation.
“It’s fun to imagine what [the animals] personalities and lives must be like,” Popp said. “I love to name the creatures. Sometimes the names connect with people in interesting ways.”
Cobl said people should appreciate the details in Popp’s work because it reveals her passion for her life on the farm.
“[People] should pay attention to the details,” she said. “Laurie puts a lot of love into the animals she creates.”
Popp wants her art to make people appreciate the beauty of the world that is all around, she said.
“Come and see the animals, sit with the chickens, feel the farm, get quiet, slow down, smile, breathe,” Popp said.
