JP Morrison Lans works primarily with drawing mediums, gouache and encaustic to create realistic yet altered figurative depictions alongside abstracted representations of the body. These are metaphors for her experiences of womanhood, motherhood, sex, love, loss, self-preservation, panic, desire, and knowing. Morrison Lans has created many series of figurative works and has also produced three immersive installation works designed to evoke wonderment, play, and nostalgia.
Born in 1984 in Detroit MI, raised in Tulsa OK. Morrison Lans was accepted in 2000 for her first solo exhibition at the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition. In 2007 she earned her BFA from the Kansas City Arts Institute. During her time in Kansas City she also co-owned and curated a gallery space within the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in the heart of the Crossroads District. After returning to Tulsa, Morrison Lans created her first installation “Mono-No-Aware” for the 2011 Momentum Exhibition with an honorarium from The Oklahoma Visual Artists Coalition. This installation was a meditation on the places and selves to which we cannot return.
In 2012 JP followed a boy to Australia and subsequently her drawing “Mermaid” was acquired for the permanent collection of the Bundaberg Regional Gallery, Queensland. Morrison Lans returned to Tulsa in 2015 to create her installation “Wundrian” for Living Arts Tulsa’s, New Genre Festival. Morrison Lans became a mother in 2017, and in 2018 was commissioned to create "Journey to the Center of the Universe" an interactive installation for “The Experience” at Ahha Tulsa. One detail of this installation was the inclusion of three-hundred and thirty-three life-cast hands from the local community cast over the course of four consecutive First Friday art crawls.
During the turmoil of the pandemic JP began experimenting with new techniques, mediums and emotions culminating in her current series of works, “Fulcrum”.
In 2021 Morrison Lans was accepted into residencies with the School of Visual Arts NYC, and the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. In January of this year Morrison Lans had the honor of being included as one of six artists in residence at Rockland Woods in Washington State. 2022 will see Morrison Lans’ next solo exhibition hosted in September at A. Hurd Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, along with her work being exhibited at 19 Karen Gallery, Gold Coast, Australia, Field Projects Gallery, NYC/online, and M.A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, OK. Currently the artist and her five-year-old can be found experimenting with encaustic and play-doh, respectively, in their home studio in Tulsa OK.
Solo Exhibitions
2022 (August), A. Hurd Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2018 Journey to the Center of the Universe, Installation for The Experience, ahha Tulsa, Tulsa 2016 Signifiers, JRB Gallery, Oklahoma City
2015 Wundrian, Installation for New Genre Festival Living Arts Center, Tulsa
2011 Mono-no-aware, Installation for Momentum, Oklahoma City
2011 Luminescent, JRB Gallery, Oklahoma City
2010 The Stories They Tell, JRB Gallery, Oklahoma City
2009 Beguiled; The Folklore of Women The Base Gallery, Kansas City
2008 Portraits, RM39, Kansas City 2000 Color, Tulsa Artists’ Coalition, Tulsa
Select Invitational & Juried Exhibitions
2022 (September) Teleportal at Real Tinsel, Milwaukee, WI
2022 Instagram Live, 19 Karen Gallery, Gold Coast, Australia
2022 Unearthed Online, Field Projects, Online
2022 Ephemeral Existence, Teleportal.Gallery, New York City
2021 The Shape of Things, A. Hurd Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2021 Immemorial, Hinterland Gallery, Santa Fe, MN
2021 Art House+Clean Hands, Art House, Tulsa
2021 20th Anniversary Gala, UK Colored Pencil Society, London, UK
2021 Artist Print Series, Flash Flood Print, Tulsa
2021 What’s In A Face, A.Hurd Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2021 MASS, CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea
2021 Resident Exhibit, Truro Center at Castle Hill, Truro, MA
2021 TSA_PDFxSVA, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Online
2019 Then & Now, Tulsa Artists’ Coalition
2018 Conciliation Series, Black Wall Street Gallery Tulsa, OK
2016 ETA-Underground, Fayetteville Underground Fayetteville, AR
2015 Elaborate Collaborate, IAO Gallery, Ok. City
2013 Bundaberg Art Festival, Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia
2013 Artist of the Month, Bundaberg Rgnl. Gallery, Queensland, Australia
2011 The Best of the Breasts, Sacred Gallery, New York City
2010 The Tata Gala, Sarasota Design Center, Sarasota, FL
2007 He She Me Makes We, Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Public Collections
“Mermaid” in the Bundaberg Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia
Residencies
2022 (October) Art Farm, NE
2022 Rockland Woods, WA
2021 Truro Art Center at Castle Hill, MA
2021 School of Visual Arts, Online
Awards
Professional Basics Grant: Oklahoma Visual Artists Coalition, 2021
Curious Creators Grant: Curious Elixirs, 2021
Artist Showcase: Tulsa Art Studio Tour, 2019
Spotlight Artist Honorarium: Oklahoma Visual Artists Coalition, 2011
Professional Basics Grant: Oklahoma Visual Artists Coalition, 2011
Jurors Choice: Momentum, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, 2009
Finalist: e-merge, Bullseye Glass, 2008
Jurors Choice: Members Show, Tulsa Artists’ Coalition, 2007
Mentorships
2021 Margaret McCann, Art Students League, Online
2016 Bo Bartlett, Master Class, Columbus, GA
2016 Brad Kunkle, SmArt School, Online
Relevant Experience
Collections Facilitator, Kravis Design Center, 2014–2019
Lecturer, Hardesty Arts Center, 2016–2018
Instructor;
-Private Mentorships, 2017–Current
-Summer Program, Holland Hall, 2018–2019
-Artists’ in the School, Ahha Tulsa, 2016–2019
-New Arts Foundations, Living Arts, 2009–2018
–ArtCore, Tulsa Public Schools, 2009–2015
-Summer Program, Okla. Contemporary 2008–2009
Demonstrator/Workshop;
-Philbrook Museum of Art, Fall, 2011
-Mid-Del Art Guild, Spring 2009 & Fall 2011
-Colored Pencil Society of America, Ch.221, Fall 2009
Co-Owner, Curator, Exhibiting Artist,
Grothaus+Pearl Gallery in the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City, 2006–2007