Focus on a Tutor: Lauren Gero, To The Trees

At Lyttleton Stores we delight in providing a space where visitors and locals alike can share and learn skills both old and new. From creative and practical crafts, to arts, gardening, cooking, preserving and so much more. We believe in the importance of fostering creative self-expression, of enabling sustainability and self-reliance, and of preserving the skills and crafts of our past.

Few people play a larger role in this than our wonderful tutors! Today we’re focusing on getting to know Lauren Gero of To the Trees, a long-term, much loved and highly enthusiastic teacher a Lyttleton.

Who are you and what do you teach?

Hello! I’m Lauren (she/her). I’m an artist creating art products for my small business To The Trees. I teach watercolour, stamp carving, mending and drawing. 

What do you most enjoy about teaching?

I love seeing the transformation in the participants on how they feel about their capability changing from the beginning to end of the class. Maybe it’s seeing a little glimmer of pride, but also a knowing, an awakening, a reconnection to their creative self, that it was within them the whole time. 

What do the Blue Mountains mean to you?

The Blue Mountains in my home. I feel incredibly privileged to live on the unceded land of the Darug and Gundungurra Peoples. With the privilege comes responsibility, for me that means connecting with, loving and protecting the unique and beautiful home we have here in the mountains. I share this through my art and hopefully inspire others to look and love this land more deeply. 

Who or what inspires your creativity?

My partner Steve (he/him) inspires me with his constant interest, education and immersion of nature. My kids inspire me to stay connected to my creative self and to see the world and future with hope that I express through my art. I love paying attention to the colour in the bush, the bright blue, purple and red of a gum sapling gets me every time.