Siouxland Magazine - Volume 3 Issue 4
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Inspire<br />
Lessons learned from stories in our community.<br />
Jessica<br />
Olivia<br />
Larger Than Life Expressions<br />
In this issue, our Conversation participants are<br />
Jessica Hammond and Olivia Lorenz. Each artist<br />
will respond to the same questions, providing you an<br />
opportunity to hear different perspectives and continue the<br />
conversation with your circle of friends.<br />
Jessica Hammond is a local artist with a formal education in<br />
audio engineering and a passion for creating larger-thanlife<br />
artwork. Jessica is involved in the Sioux City Alley Art<br />
Festival, has created several murals around town, and has<br />
an upcoming project at State Steel which you can watch the<br />
progress on Court and Virginia Streets. You can follow Jessica<br />
on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube by searching for<br />
“Brutal Doodles” or on her website www.brutaldoodlesart.<br />
com.<br />
Olivia Lorenz is a 15-year-old local high school student and<br />
artist. Olivia’s goal is to create pieces to which others can<br />
relate and connect. Olivia is driven and, after graduation,<br />
aspires to attend the University of Iowa to become a surgeon<br />
or doctor. Olivia has the gift of expressing her artistic ideas<br />
into works of art for others to enjoy. Olivia recently completed<br />
a mural in the Woodbury County Juvenile Detention Center.<br />
<strong>Siouxland</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> (SM): The theme for this issue<br />
is Expressions. People share themselves through<br />
various forms of expression. Why have you chosen<br />
murals as your form of expression?<br />
Jessica Hammond (JH): Even though my formal<br />
education is in audio engineering, I’ve always had a passion<br />
for all forms of art. I got started with murals at the 2019 Alley<br />
Arts Festival when my friend Kitty Hart and I created our first<br />
mural. That was followed by one for SUX Pride, then Work &<br />
Church, and others since. I didn’t set out to do murals, but it’s<br />
like the perfect storm for the things I love, creating art, being<br />
outside, and doing challenging and rewarding work. Plus, I<br />
get paid for living my passion.<br />
Olivia Lorenz (OL): Murals are a great form of artistic<br />
expression for various reasons, whether to show emotion,<br />
color, movement or make a statement. My goal was to create<br />
a lively and vivid space at Juvenile Detention Center for the<br />
kids to observe and interact with, opposed to sorrowful blank<br />
walls with no color. I saw this as an opportunity to change how<br />
these kids feel, allowing them to be seen and understood<br />
through art. Since they are my age, I can appreciate how<br />
isolating rooms can make one feel alone and upset. It can<br />
be difficult for them to handle the emotions they are going<br />
through with nothing to do but stare at walls in a small space.<br />
Creating a dedicated mural for these young people attempts<br />
to show them they are understood, no matter their choices.<br />
SM: What other forms of expression do you use to<br />
share yourself with others?<br />
OL: I use platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram,<br />
and Etsy, which all make it easier to reach a wider audience<br />
and connect with others like me. I paint with various mediums,<br />
draw, and sculpt with the mindset of showing who I am and<br />
what I enjoy. It is an amazing thing knowing I can be myself<br />
and share what I am working on with the world.<br />
JH: I have many different forms of expression that I use, and<br />
they are very fluid for me. I was constantly drawing in school,<br />
but I also played guitar, wrote songs, and penned poetry. I
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