How did art and creativity absorb Loren Fidalgo's life and dreams? Well, it may have started with Loren's Dad who was a brilliant toy designer for Kohinoor Brothers. He was extremely compelled with ideas and creativity and he was profoundly instrumental in Loren’s early development as a creative soul. As it is history, creating art has been a drive in life since childhood through encouragement and support from her Dad. Loren's 'kooky' Dad would often bring home factory rejects from the toy plant and they would sit on the floor together and dream up things that could be made out of them. Loren’s Dad recognized early that his little girl had an artistic and creative side. After Loren had cut out of paper feet in different colors and pasted them to the walls from her bedroom to the kitchen, Loren's Dad stated emphatically, "I have to send her to art school!" He knew what needed to happen but little did he know what was ahead of her artistically, creatively and emotionally. Tragically, in 1974 Loren's Dad passed away when she was just fourteen. This was coupled by the loss of Loren’s Mom to illness when she was four years old. The loss of both parents, in her developing and formative years, undoubtedly, had an enormous and powerful effect on her both emotionally and creatively.
Loren briefly attended a local
community college, where she developed strong interest in commercial art and
graphic design. Not experiencing the growth and inspiration she needed and
desired, Loren decided to take a huge leap of faith and left the
comforts of Toms River, NJ., to enroll in Moore College of Art and Design
in Philadelphia, PA. This decision would change the direction of Loren’s
life forever. It was at Moore that Loren first began to see her creativity
soar. She began to define herself as an artist, and more importantly, she
began to believe that she was indeed artistic, just as her Dad realized when
she was a child. Although Loren majored in Advertising Design, her
direction and creativity seemed to have a life of it’s own. Loren was
often recognized for her ‘unconventional thinking’. She often impressed
many of Moore’s faculty with her ‘zany designs’ and her ‘out of the box’
approach to her work. In her junior year Loren took top honors by
winning both “The Emily Sartain Traveling Fellowship” where Loren was able
to research the history of toy making in England and Scotland and she also won
the “Four A’s Advertising Internship’ in New York. Loren was granted
a U.S. Patent in 1988 for a body contact game that she invented,
called BUMPERS & LOOPERS TM.
After graduation, Loren's
entrepreneurial side and her diverse skills, led her to a number of different vocational
options. She did some Graphic Design work, such as logo designs and
presentation slides as well as, hand painted clothing and pillows,
which she sold at local craft fairs and small boutique shops. Loren also
designed jewelry, using Polymer Clay, which she also sold at boutiques, but it
wasn't until 2003 when Loren accidentally discovered the field of Art
Licensing.
Art Licensing created the venue in which Loren’s cartoon and floral designs could flourish. All Loren’s designs could be adapted for use in commercial art. Loren taught herself Adobe Photoshop which allowed her many opportunities and leveled the playing field. In 2006 and 2007, Loren participated in the ‘Licensing Expo’ in New York City. Loren never thought that art licensing would change her path, but it did, and it turned her world upside down, again.
Although Art Licensing was a new
direction that Loren’s career would take, she always relied on Ceramics as her
'artistic therapy'. Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, PA is a funded
continuing art education center for adults, as well as children where
Loren had been attended for over twenty years plus, taking only Ceramics
classes. Then out of nowhere,
Loren was taking by accident
and again her world would almost literally turn on it's head.
While attending one of her
classes in 2008 on an uneventful day, a large, approximately 10 lb. vase,
had fallen off of a shelf and toppled onto Loren's head. Loren did not
have a concussion or any other symptoms, and resumed her everyday
activities. Around one month after the head injury, Loren began to
notice strong compelling thoughts and a 'calling' to express herself
through painting and mixed media. She found herself moving from
commercial artwork to fine art, and she decided to enroll in a
painting class and leave Ceramics behind. Loren wanted a way to
express herself more and found that painting and
mixed media collage to do just that. Loren loved painting
anything and she first began painting in still life and
then serendipitiously found her way to abstract painting. Currently
she paints in a variety of subjects such as still life, conceptual/fantasy and
abstract. Painting and mixed-media seemed to be the
new mediums for her to pursue a career in art licensing, as well as
fine art painting. Loren has adapted many of her commercial designs to a
mixed media format and she has won four Honorable Mention
awards in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 for her paintings exhibited
in Fleisher’s Annual Students Shows.
Whether the head injury was the
catalyst or a coincidence to her compelling obsession and 'calling' to
oil painting and mixed media, Loren does not know? What she does know in
that she is now 'smitten' with painting and mixed media and since she
started, she has never looked back. Loren found these new mediums to
express herself and to pursue her dreams as an artist just as her Dad believed
she would in her childhood days. Little did either
one know, that when she was sitting on the floor dreaming up
imaginary art and ideas and when her Dad said, “I will have to send
her to art school!”, he paved the way from the feet she put on the wall, for her art and creativity to become
the center of her life's passion, her dreams, her journey and the savior of her life.
