St. Louis bred, SF Bay Area based multimedia artist Lauryn Marshall (Art by Marshall) uses color, figure and object composition, and fantastical elements as tools for storytelling to highlight the lived experiences of those from the African diaspora. Marshall comes from a line of Bahamian and Creole ancestry, peaking her interest in the many expressions of Blackness that exist in the world.

She dove into art at the early age of 2, coming from a long line of predecessors that were actively engaged in community building throughout the South. Though influenced and inspired by many role models within her family, Grandma Robbie was Marshall’s first art teacher and
entrepreneurship mentor. At “Robbie’s Custom Leadergoods”, Marshall was inspired by the textiles her Grandmother created and it exposed her to different art mediums.

She is interested in connecting to community through visual art, creating ceramic and painted works to unearth the intersectionalities and subtleties of the Black experience. She encourages her viewers to make connections between what is present in contemporary culture versus its past representations in history. In 2017, she relocated to Oakland, CA to pursue higher education. She received her BA in Studio Art and Psychology from Mills College in 2021 and presently works with youth as an educator, mentor, near-peer and program coordinator. 

In addition to her personal work, Marshall is a muralist and often collaborates with Civic Design Studio as a guest artist. She has assisted in murals located in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco and has worked with talented Bay Area artists such as Tarika Lewis, Twin Walls Mural Company, Aerosoul, and Cece Carpio.