By Pops Peterson • Photographs by Stephanie Zollshan

“I’m just one of dozens of local artists who have gained exposure, self-esteem, and income because of Lauren’s entrepreneurship in our community.”

One of the most anticipated cultural events of 2025 is the unveiling of the memorial statue of W.E.B. Du Bois on the steps of Great Barrington’s Mason Public Library, following years of development by the W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project. I was honored and delighted to be invited to the Berkshire Botanical Garden to view maquettes of the three design finalists’ entries. Lauren Clark, a dear friend, was leading the Sculpture Selection Jury, and she wanted my input as a well-known Berkshire artist.

I may never have become “well-known” without Lauren, who invited me to have my first solo exhibition in her gallery, Lauren Clark Fine Art. Her kind offer shocked me back in 2014, when I brought one of my first canvases into her small Housatonic gallery. I had just begun to delve into digital imaging, not knowing if anyone would even consider it art, and I would have been thrilled for her to mount even one picture for sale. But Lauren loved my colorful portraits and she wanted my show up the very next month. This had to wait, I explained, because at that time I’d only ever made seven pictures!

A client of my own SEVEN salon.spa, Lauren and I had become friends when she introduced me to her 12-year-old daughter, who had just won the Berkshire Idol juvenile singing contest. I had been booked to do my club act, “Star Catcher,” at Rumpy’s, a beloved dive bar in the basement of what’s now The Whitlock in Lenox, and I thought it would be really cool to sing some duets with her. Lauren was so supportive and the duets, “I Got You, Babe” and “My Humps,” brought the house down.

Timing is everything, and in the six months since Lauren had invited me to have a solo exhibition, she had moved from the little space in Housatonic to a sprawling gallery on Railroad Street in Great Barrington, a space I had to fill! This is how I learned one reason artworks cost so much: As the artist, I not only put my time and creativity into the work, but also had to pay for all the canvases to be printed and stretched. Furthermore, each one needed to be framed—by Lauren’s framing department, at the special artists’ rate, of course. Oh yes, and the gallery commission would be the standard 50% of the gross, not the net! If I didn’t have some sales, I’d be out thousands.

Luckily that wasn’t the case. My show, New Frontiers in Pop Art, put me on the map. And I owe it all to Lauren.

I’m just one of dozens of local artists who have gained exposure, self-esteem, and income because of Lauren’s entrepreneurship in our community. Raised in Yonkers by a mom who worked for the unemployment office and a corporate dad who moonlighted as a jazz guitarist, Lauren credits the alternative high school she attended in New York, in her senior year, as the turning point in her life.

While studying art at Elizabeth Seton College, she took a part-time job at an antique print gallery, where she learned matting and framing. She found success selling objects made with her marbled paper designs to specialty shops in New York City and to book publishers. She moved here in 1989, knowing nobody, and worked alone in her home studio until she joined forces with Robin Schmitt in 1993 at Robin’s Tokonoma Gallery.

Lauren became the sole proprietor in 2006, gave it her name, and is now at 684 Main Street (in the same building as Bizalion’s Fine Foods). She recently expanded into the space next door, with Childs + Clark Gallery, a collaboration with Mary Childs featuring fine art glass, sculpture, and painting.

Lauren has become a valued force in our cultural community, nurturing talents and bringing beautiful modern works to our homes. She has mastered the curator’s art. Her gallery is smaller than a museum, but the art is world-class and a joy to behold.

When the W.E.B. Du Bois statue is installed next year, it will be thanks to the vision and hard work of Lauren and other dedicated neighbors behind the W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project who recognize the importance of our famous native son’s legacy—and the impact of public art.