Stuart Loten

Loten Art Lighting

"I've always been drawn to the challenge of combining function with design. Often, the task of designing something functional requires compromising the design. This is my inspiration—to create a lamp that is as functional and artistic as possible."

As a wildlife biology major, Stuart Loten was a semester away from his degree. Needing to take an elective, he chose an art class, the first exposure to art he had ever had. A week later, after a heated telephone conversation with his father two-thousand miles away, he changed his major to art, and the rest is history.

The technique of silk painting involves stretching silk on a frame. Using hand-mixed dyes, Loten paints the silk with brushes and then steams it to set the dyes. The bases are mostly steel that has been welded and finished with a clear coat to prevent oxidation and rust.

Loten's career has been a road of self-discovery in which most disciplines involved in his lighting creations—including welding and silk painting—have been self-taught. He received a BFA from the University of Massachusetts and an MFA from the University of Kansas.

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