Photo by Laura Dierbeck
LaNia Sproles
LaNia Sproles
LaNia Sproles is a multifaceted artist born and raised in Milwaukee. She graduated from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2017 and works with various media including drawing, printmaking, collage and murals. Since college, Sproles has been a Mary L. Nohl fellow, artist assistant-in-residence with Artists Working in Education and teaching artist-in-residence at Lynden Sculpture Garden; she’s also had a number of solo and group exhibitions across Wisconsin plus a few in Chicago and one in Ann Arbor. On top of that, she was guest curator for the virtual “I’ll Make You Sorry” exhibition hosted by NADA art fair at Green Gallery and has participated in exhibitions with the online Elijah Wheat Showroom.
She cites a mural done for the Jewish Community Food Pantry in 2021 as one of her proudest moments as an artist. “That felt really good because it was after a time I was going through a lot of personal life things and I remember feeling very accomplished,” she said. “It was nice to have people I didn’t know show up and support me plus some friends that I hadn’t seen during the pandemic were there … it really warmed my heart.”
The project was unique because the organizers sent out booklets to people in the neighborhood asking what they wanted included in the mural. “I felt that was very progressive thinking. I was proud to be a part of something that was for a predominantly Black neighborhood where they had a say in what would be done,” she said.
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'Sporty Spice' by LaNia Sproles - Relief print collage on Canson paper
'Sporty Spice' by LaNia Sproles
Sproles has incorporated themes of self-perception, queerness, feminism and race into her art. “A lot of the things I’ve been doing in my studio have been exciting because I’m using lots of color and texture to inform the human body and people that I really care about,” Sproles said. “I feel kind of like how I felt in college where I’m playing with how color and texture can be assigned to a different tone or setting or even someone’s personality. It’s all about being able to capture the people who I hold very dear to my heart in tender spaces; sometimes they’re funny…sometimes they’re jovial…sometimes they’re sexy.
“The most recent piece I’ve done I feel is like a turning point for me. It’s of my sibling Angel and they’re this Martian green color and they have this long, bright fluorescent red wig on, and it’s paired with another close, intimate piece of them laying in bed where I use a lot of iridescent paints. They’re trans, and this has been the first time I’ve seen them living life the way they really want to; I took the pictures of them in their first apartment for the pieces. It’s nice to see someone who you’ve literally held as a baby be their authentic self.”
In 2020 Sproles started tattooing as well—something she had always wanted to do. On how that started, she shared, “I was on a road trip out in Santa Fe and was really inspired by the stuff I was seeing out there, and I was doing lots of drawing. I came back and one of my studiomates had started tattooing so I took that as a sign that I needed to start. I started practicing and slowly got to know other people who were tattooing; there’s a whole world of very talented self-taught artists who take their jobs very seriously.”
Most recently, Sproles collaborated with fellow Milwaukee artist Peach Beast on a line of earrings. “Me and Elly Hazard had talked about working together in passing, and I’d reached out to see if she’d seriously want to do it,” she said. “It was really fun; I’d never worked with acrylic sheets even though that’s really popular right now in terms of jewelry. Elly’s always been a person whom I’ve appreciated from afar so it was nice to work with someone who also respects me.”
Coming up in February, LaNia Sproles has a duo exhibition with artist Juan Palacios in Chicago at FLXST Contemporary Gallery and then a solo show next summer in Chicago at Goldfinch. Visit her website here. Follow her on Instagram @laniasprolesartist plus tattoo page @th0tquarius.
