Originally from Susquehanna, PA, Fred Lawrenson graduated from Mansfield State College in 1971 as an art education major. He spent 34 years teaching art in the Northern Tioga School District in northern Pennsylvania. He is currently retired and painting full time at his home in Elkland, PA.
His paintings have placed in several juried exhibits receiving several popular vote awards. In addition, two of his paintings were selected for publication on full color calendars distributed throughout northern Pennsylvania in the late 1980's. In 2003, he was juried into the World Nature Artists Group and in 2008 his painting "Origins" was selected to the 2007 Paint America Top 100 and was sent on a nationwide tour with the Paint America Exhibit. In 2011, his painting Tanglewood Touchdown also made the paint America Top 100. He is also a juried "Pennsylvania Wilds" Artist. His children's book, "Shalock and the Cloud of Bad Dreams," was selected as one of eight national finalists in the USA Best Books Competition sponsored by USA Book News.
"I am fortunate to have lived most of my life in, what I believe, is one of the most beautiful areas of the eastern United States. But, I have also been able to spend a lot of my vacation time over the years in beautiful habitats from Maine to Florida gathering reference material for my paintings. Most of my paintings are not about the gorgeous vistas that tourists travel to see, but instead, are more about the places and things that we tend to miss. I would like my paintings to offer the viewer an opportunity to take a visual walk in some of these places and experience a level of interaction that might cause us to slow down, take a longer look, and develop a deeper appreciation for the gifts God has surrounded us with."
-C.F. Lawrenson