About Calla Terra

Calla Terra Studios is a community-focused, process-oriented, sustainability-driven eco arts endeavor on a mission to:

  • Raise awareness about climate change through the arts

  • Educate about the environment through writing, workshops, and public art

  • Promote respect for one’s environment

  • Foster environmental exploration for youth

  • Demonstrate that art is process-driven and accessible

  • Engage the community in public art

Lauren Zens Leitner, a Wisconsin-based artist, envisions a world of conscious consumers and socially responsible citizens, respect for the environment, exploratory and independent youth, unity through art, and creative exploration and freedom of expression. 

The name Calla Terra comes from the Greek word for "beauty” and the Latin word for “earth.” Lauren’s mother was an avid gardener and their gorgeous backyard garden and pond was a little sanctuary for Lauren growing up. The calla lilies in that garden were one of her favorites. 

About Lauren

Since 2008, Lauren has been producing contemporary geometric paintings, pursuing painting as a side gig after graduating from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Arts Management. 

After returning to her roots in Milwaukee in 2013, her goals accelerated toward a full-time career in music business. Painting during this time offered her a creative and therapeutic outlet.

In 2017, Lauren’s career goals shifted to work with youth in the arts, leading her to Eastern Illinois University to pursue an MA in Community Arts. Her graduate research focused on three primary topics: equitable and inclusive community engagement, maximum learning for under-resourced youth, and progressive, student-centered learning. 

Since that time, she has worked as an educator and administrator at Milwaukee arts nonprofits to support multidisciplinary, community-based arts opportunities for youth and families. She left her full-time job in nonprofit in 2022, transitioning into full-time freelance work, which is when the idea for Calla Terra began — a merging of Lauren’s four biggest passions: nature, art, youth, and community.

ABOUT THE ART

I send 1,642 pounds of waste to landfills every year, and accordingly, help deliver 570 million tons of methane into the atmosphere. You already know what happens from there. (If you don’t know, I’m glad you’re here.)

Calla Terra Studios is a merging of my four biggest passions: the arts, nature, education, and community. The name Calla Terra has Greek and Latin derivatives – “beautiful” and “Earth,” respectively. It’s also inspired by the beds of calla lilies in my mom’s garden when I was growing up.

In my art, I reimagine trash, particularly materials that account for about 65% of landfill waste: plastic, glass, paper, textiles, rubber, wood, and metals. I also aim to reduce my environmental footprint on Mama Earth by making my own paint from nontoxic materials and utilizing the naturally occurring color pigments that she shares with us. My palette encompasses the colors of her elements – earth, air, and water – and the textures explore her topography and oceans.

Overall, my artwork is about the creation process – the foraging, the play, the experimentation. The process itself of reconceptualizing trash, breaking it down into different forms of matter (for instance, crushing glass into a powder), is what spurs my creativity. With no major intention, other than manipulating and exploring recycled materials, I mix these substances into my paint, put them over my paint, or under my paint. My studio is my laboratory.

What kind of texture can I create with shredded plastic water jugs? What color will occur if I mix pink-coated ground-up Benadryl into my blue paint? How will my paint dry if I cover it with a ply of (unused) toilet paper? It’s an inquiry into the everyday items we use, and often throw away without much trepidation.

Though, I can’t grievously fault us for this, nor will I pretend I’m innocent in the problem. I consider my work successful if it can influence even one person to reconsider their environmental impact and responsibility, and better yet, adopt a sustainable lifestyle that works for them.

Climate change unites us as a global community, but that unity is frequently – and understandably – paired with pessimism or even overburdened apathy. I’m no stranger to this. I recognize my miniscule place in the world. Am I really making a dent in the millions of tons of trash that sit in landfills simply by making a piece of art with used dryer sheets or expired sunscreen? But how does a defeatist attitude help me – or us – here?

Let’s reimagine our overwhelm, lean into the positive opportunities, and find ways to take action (like making art with trash).