Eric Lauritzen Biography
 Photo of Erik M. Lauritzen by James Lariger. (Photo gift of Al Weber) Erik Middleton Lauritzen was born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1953. His father was a painter, and his mother is still a practicing ceramicist. At four years of age he moved to California with his parents. He initially pursued musical composition, writing two String Quartets while attending the Interlochen Arts Academy near Traverse City, Michigan. After high school he switched to studying art, graduating from San Francisco Art Institute with a B.F.A. in 1977, and from California State University, Northridge, with an M.F.A. in 1980. He exhibited his work at many solo, group, and invitational exhibitions, beginning in 1976, in galleries in many cities across the country, and throughout California and in Nevada. Besides his works here at the University of California, Santa Cruz, there are also works in many private, corporate, and public collections throughout the United States and abroad, including at the Kresge Art Museum in Lansing, Michigan, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Upon viewing photographs taken from Mr. Lauritzen's Under Construction portfolio in 1993, the preeminent landscape and architectural photographer Morley Baer responded: "What a great pleasure to see even a few of your recent photographs... I happen to have seen a number of other efforts recently at photographing similar subject matter and I cannot help but note the difference between a perspective which culminates [only] in design, and a photograph [like those you sent me] which results in ephemeral and emotional spontaneity." Mr. Lauritzen was the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships, and awards concerning his photographic work. He served as curator for the Red Mountain Gallery at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada, where he founded the photography and digital programs. He also curated exhibits for the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, the Friends of Photography, and the Nevada Historical Society. He wrote articles, served as a Master Course Instructor for the Maine Photographic Workshops, was an Assistant Professor teaching photography at both UCLA and the California State University located in Northridge. and often served as juror for photographic exhibitions. Mr. Lauritzen died August 9, 2007. |