Her art is in Time magazine, again. What to know about South Jersey's Lavett Ballard

WILLINGBORO – Lavett Ballard’s studio is tucked away in a former classroom at the Kennedy Center, which was previously a high school.

Up a set of stairs, Ballard’s second-floor studio is filled with some of her finished work and artwork in progress. Paint, cutouts, wood, wooden fences, wiring — it’s all there.

There are telltale signs with residue on the floor that an artist has been hard at work.

Ballard, who was born in East Orange and grew up in Irvington, has lived in Willingboro for years. She’s a married mother with three sons, ages 32, 19 and 16.

The award-winning artist, who is also the galleries director at the Kennedy Center, earned her associate degree in art from Rowan College at Burlington County, a bachelor's in fine arts in studio arts painting and a bachelor of arts in art history from Rutgers University-Camden and an MFA in studio art from University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Her artwork has been featured on the cover of Time magazine, twice, most recently in the Feb. 13-Feb. 20 edition. Her work was also featured inside with an essay by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson.

Ballard, also a curator and art historian, has had art exhibits all over the country.

Six things to know about Ballard:

Moved to Burlington County 17 years ago

"I was born in East Orange. I grew up in Irvington. My mother put me in private school (Essex Catholic Girls in Irvington) which is now closed. The year I graduated, my mother decided to move out of Irvington and we moved to Lakewood. I moved on my own to Toms River. Then I got married and moved down here."

Did “art” from her high chair

"My mother said I would be on my high chair, she said ‘you’d take all of your food, your string peas, your carrots and dump it onto the tray and make like finger paintings with the food. I said, she’s going to be an artist. You were so focused. You weren’t just making a mess, you were moving the food.'"

How she ended up on the cover of Time, twice

“I was at Art Basel week in Miami. It’s like the Olympics for the art world. Every time I met someone I wanted to work with or curate or whatever, on my card it says, Time magazine cover. Everyone was like, 'you did a Time magazine cover?' And I was like 'yeah, and one day I’m going to do another.' ... Sure enough, when I didn’t think I had anything on my plate for this year, out of the blue, they contacted me again … I was more excited about the project itself than it being Time Magazine. I love Isabel Wilkerson. She’s one of my favorite writers … The title of the work is the 'Chaos of Caste' and the dates are Feb. 13-20.”

Does mixed-media collage

“Mixed-media basically means it’s several medias mixed in, painting, I do somewhat drawing … collage is the actual images on top, layered. I also draw with a torch. My main medium is wood because I think wood holds so much history. That’s where the fences come in. Fences for me are symbolic. When you’re on one side of the fence, you always kind of wonder what’s on the other side of the fence. And those people are thinking the same thing about what you’re doing on the opposite side.”

Words of wisdom

“At one point, my art teacher (Margery Amdur) in undergrad (at Rutgers-Camden), pulled me to the side. She said Lavett, ‘you got it.’ I said 'what does it mean'. She said 'that thing that most people going to art school want, and work half their lives getting, you’ve got it already.’ I would look at my peers, they’d be painting these gorgeous, Michelangelo-style photorealistic paintings. Mine were good but I just didn’t feel I was as talented as others. She explained to me, it’s not about the talent, it’s about networking, knowing the business, being able to think outside the box.”

Celeste E. Whittaker is a news reporter for the Courier Post, Daily Journal and Burlington County Times and has won numerous awards. Reach her at  cwhittaker@gannettnj.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: New Jersey native creates award-winning-art featured in TIME