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Graduate Oklahoma Christian University Student Shows a Light and Passion for the Arts

Daniel Lawrence, an Oklahoma Christian University graduate, sold his art previously featured in the 2020 Soundings Literary and Visual Arts Journal. Lawrence intends to show hope as an artist to other students.

Three pieces by Lawrence were selected to be in the Soundings journal, which led to a chance to sell a piece. A buyer saw the pieces in Soundings, contacted Lawrence and bought a piece called “Love Letter.”

Brown, grey, and red paint over a white canvas with black cursive letters over it.

Lawrence graduated in 2020 from Oklahoma Christian University with a B.F.A. in gaming and animation. He is working for Residence Life as resident director of Wilson Hall.

Even though Lawrence has learned digital painting, he likes traditional art. His traditional art is eye-catching because it is totally different from other digital arts.

Soundings Senior Editor, Kellen Welch, talked about how his opportunity to sell work impacted Soundings.

“Hopefully it’ll encourage people to have more exposure to art,” Welch said.

Soundings provides many opportunities for students to let people know and show their artwork, but many students are not aware of this chance. Lawrence was one of them; it was his first time to submit his works to Soundings because he had not known they existed.

However, this time Lawrence submitted seven or eight pieces to Soundings.

“My teachers definitely pushed me to submit things,” Lawrence said. “I guess I made it my goal to try to get something published into a book.”

Although he had never submitted his work to Soundings, it was not his first time selling his work. Lawrence has sold his works to his family, his friends, and a local Starbucks in Edmond. He has given much of his artwork away for free.

“A lot of our teachers will say never do anything for free if you have the talent,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence believes that money is not everything at the end of the day. He talked about his passion for the arts.

“I would love for me to be able to create art, and people wanting to buy it for what it is,” Lawrence said. “But I guess it’s not an end all be all; it is continuingly creating art to me.”

Art is not just a hobby for Lawrence. He described what art means to him with a Japanese word.

“It’s definitely my ikigai which means ‘the reason that you get out of bed in the morning,’” Lawrence said. “Creating something that inspires other people is a massive reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

It is hard to make a living creating art, but Welch hopes the selling of Lawrence’s piece will set a great precedent for other art students. 

“Hopefully other people will see it and want to buy it,” Welch said.

Soundings will continue to help students show the world their artwork. Welch described her goal for Soundings.

“Just to continue to be a place for people to get their art in the world, whether that’s for poetry or visual art,” Welch said.

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