Lori VanKirk Schue | Artist. Author. Educator. jobs and careers

About Lori VanKirk Schue | Artist. Author. Educator.

Lori VanKirk Schue | Artist. Author. Educator. is the creative home for the life’s work of Lori VanKirk Schue—an internationally respected multidisciplinary artist, author, and educator whose career spans more than five decades. This company serves as the unifying vehicle for her studio practice, authorship, teaching, and creative education initiatives. Lori is an artist first. From early childhood in western Pennsylvania, making art has been her primary way of thinking, problem-solving, and interpreting life. That identity has remained constant through decades of global living shaped by her husband’s United States Coast Guard service, with each relocation becoming an opportunity to study, observe, and create in classrooms, studios, museums, and historic sites around the world. Perseverance and fortitude are not abstract values in her work—they are lived experience. Her artistic practice spans painting, drawing, pastels, ceramics, basketry, printmaking, weaving, and mixed media. Creating artwork is where she finds clarity and restoration, and where complex ideas become tangible through her hands. As a synesthete, Lori brings a deep interest in the relationships between color, sound, emotion, and perception into both her studio work and her teaching. Education is an extension of her art practice. Lori currently serves as a Mediums Expert Instructor with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, teaching online and in person for the Smithsonian Associates Arts Program. Her courses connect traditional techniques, art history, and contemporary practice, helping artists move confidently across materials and disciplines. She is the author and illustrator of more than 20 books, including the bestselling Art Works for Kids series, and the co-founder of two creative education companies, Artlingz and SeeSayCreate, which make art accessible to children, families, and educators worldwide.