Flow of lava: Lafferty conveys allure of lamps

Wednesday, March 19, 2003 | 8:28 a.m.

It's safe to say that Lava lamps have provided plenty of late-night musings for enriched onlookers.

But for local artist Donna Lafferty, whose contemporary work is on display at the Summerlin Library gallery through May, the appeal is about how to convey the lamps' fluidity, light and texture onto a canvas.

"They give me lots of freedom," Lafferty said while looking at one of two Lava lamp paintings in the exhibit that includes bright renditions of cars, landscapes and musical instruments.

The lamps have also given Lafferty's work national exposure. Two of her Lava lamp paintings were featured on the set of MTV's reality show "Real World Las Vegas" when it was taped at a suite in the Palms nearly two years ago.

The show premiered last September. In between the high drama, sexual trysts and sassy spats among the twentysomething cast members are Lafferty's Lava lamp paintings featured in the computer room and in the telephone nook.

Though Lafferty has had no success getting on-air credit for the paintings, which were sold through By Design, a local contemporary furniture store on West Flamingo Road, she regards it as a nice addition to her artistic resume.

"I was thrilled," Lafferty said. "It was a great breakthrough."

Lafferty's work, sold in galleries in Las Vegas and La Jolla, Calif., interior design stores and through architectural firms, teeters between art and design. She readily admits that sales are a big inspiration and you'd be hard pressed to find a starving artist, political statement or social commentary within reach of Lafferty's work.

"I've been one of these working realists who always has to have a roof over her head," said Lafferty, a human resources representative for International Gaming Technology. "These don't make a social statement. They're more of a feel-good kind of thing. I'm trying to paint an image with colors people enjoy, and that I can enjoy."

Mostly self-taught, Lafferty dabbled in watercolors in college and slipped into art workshops and courses whenever she had the opportunity and in the mid 1980s devoted more time to her art, both in painting and in marketing. Paintings in the current exhibit were completed within the last three years and carry price tags between $400 and $995.

Her emphasis on vibrant, sometimes iridescent, colors is the basis of her work. Subject matter ranges from landscapes to musical instruments, from beach scenes to abstract renditions.

She paints musical instruments, as well as her sense of the music emanating from those instruments. A painting of a gold trumpet in the exhibit reflects an almost Dixieland quality. Lafferty lived in New Orleans from 1985 to 1987.

"In New Orleans I was able to take every Wednesday off and go to art school," Lafferty said.

Her work often reflects regions in which she's lived. Las Vegas sunsets, Utah rock formations and Southern California beach scenes are among her paintings.

"I'm very influenced by where I've been," Lafferty said. "I usually paint these rock paintings when I get back from Utah. In La Jolla, we lived in a cottage five blocks from the beach. I could hear waves hitting rocks on the beach."

Originally from Houston, Lafferty's husband's work in the hotel industry frequently transplants the couple. The two lived in Las Vegas in the late 1970s, then returned in 1990 after living in New Orleans.

Her time in La Jolla inspired her favorite piece in the exhibit -- a free form painting of sea foam, which she says allowed her to play with analogous color and diptychs.

Cars are also of interest. Pointing to a 1934 Duesenberg that incorporates iridescent colors, Lafferty said, "It's such a breakthrough for me. I loved the lines of the car, the organic shapes, the round shapes. I just suddenly wasn't afraid to experiment."

Pointing to a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, she said, "This was a car we saw at a car museum in San Diego. I wanted the opportunity to paint chrome. But not chrome colors, all the reflective colors."

Though the paintings are acrylic, Lafferty occasionally emulates the look and texture of pastel drawings. Her desert Utah rocks portray chalky, silent, browns rusts, purples and grays. Her Lava lamps have almost a hazy, chalklike look to them.

Lafferty also belongs to a society of children's bookwriters and illustrators. A hearty marketer, she's looking at licensing to incorporate her work into cards and posters.

Spending most of her free time in her home studio, she said, "I do problem solving all day long and I come home at night and do problem solving on my canvas."