Carlana Lane

Carlana Lane grew up in New Orleans and spent summers with her grandparents on their farm in Ocean Springs. Her first career was as an English Teacher, but has always enjoyed visiting museums and galleries in her extensive travels in this country and abroad. After her three children were grown, she returned to college and studied drawing, and painting. Love of literature and reading has influenced the themes of her work. All of the series’ themes—jazz, barrier islands, local rivers, interior spaces, and even her kimonos— tell stories. She has won numerous professional awards.

Her work has been shown at The George Ohr Museum, and traveling exhibit of Mississippi Art Colony. Currently her work can be seen in Ocean Springs at the Art House and The Pink Rooster/Gallery Garbo.

“The study of literature has added depth to my work, as has my intense love of reading. My paintings of interiors show people where they live and work. I like to think about the people who inhabit theses rooms: who they are what their interests are. Most of the time there are books in the room because I feel a room without books is dead. My kimono series was similar in that I was thinking about the woman who own and wear these robes. I often create stories about these women and even give them names. I have tried to imagine the life of one person, her passion and foibles. In a very real sense, I am a writer who happens to paint.”