Brooke Lamberti is an artist from Factoryville who expresses herself through poetry, writing, painting, drawing and any other creative outlet she can find. She is a graduate of Lackawanna Trail Junior-Senior High School and plans to graduate from Marywood University in 2020. She is passionate about her studies of psychology, philosophy and bioethics and enjoys learning more about the topics in her free time. She is employed by Saint Joseph’s Center in Scranton.
Meet Brooke Lamberti…
How did you get interested in psychology?
I got interested in the mental health industry because I became a part of it. I started going to therapy and found it really interesting. I wrote my first novel when I was 16, and that was based on a lot of psych-related things. Then I started writing another novel and that’s also psych-related. As an artist, I originally went (to study) art therapy, and I expected it to be a lot more psychology-based. It was very much just art-based, so I switched out and went straight to psychology.
What about philosophy interests you?
I started taking classes at the University of Scranton. I excelled it in and enjoyed how much it made me think. It inspired my own beliefs and changed my way of thinking. Philosophy and psychology are so closely tied together, and bioethics ties into both.
Tell me about your art background.
When I was 12, I had nothing to do. I wasn’t into sports or anything at school. One day I just started to draw. I just keep going and seemed decent at it. I started an Instagram account, and it got 25,000 followers, so that was my main motivator for my art. I really love vintage and antique things, so I would always take vintage photographs and replicate them. I take a lot from my surroundings, and I love nature. I’ll pick up a flower and draw that. I became very detail-obsessed. I started doing a few art series that are psychology-based, and I really like that.
What styles of art do you do?
For my business, I do a lot of portraits of kids, animals, dog portraits and things like that. When I do day-to-day art, it’s hands, eyes or plants, because that’s the nearest thing available to me. I’m constantly sitting in the grass and I’ll take a picture of my eye and I’ll draw my eye or pick a flower and draw the flower. I just use that to study and get to know the world around me. That way, when I do art that’s not a copy off of a photograph, I have a better idea how to do it.
How do you express yourself through art?
I think it comes down to feelings. Artists are very emotional and feel so much. Through that, they create so much. I just feel, and create through that. Sometimes it comes out in drawings, sometimes through poetry and somethings through writing a novel. It’s all just how I feel and how I can best describe that to the people around me.
Describe your writing and artistic style.
I’m very detail-based. I like getting down to the nitty gritty and finding deep meaning in everything. I love history. The book I’m writing now is about the Vietnam War. I’m really interested in history. The same thing goes for my art. I take historical photographs, research them. I mostly work in black and white. My style is very black and white. I’m also obsessed with bees. I’m always dressed in yellow and black. My nickname is B, for Brooke, I think they’re such calm creatures and inspiration for art. They create so much, and they create hexagon combs because they see in hexagons. It’s just so interesting.
What topics inspire your writing?
Psychology really inspires me. I also enjoy history. The book I’m working on now is called “Developing Negatives.” It’s about a boy who is a journalism major. He loses his camera and doesn’t have enough money to buy a new camera, so he pawns one. It has film in it. He develops the film and the pictures look a lot like him. He’s very confused and wants to find out where the pictures came from. (He searches and eventually finds out.) I’ve always loved history and reading textbooks. I love psychology textbooks too.
How do you hope to affect or inspire the people around you through your art?
Since I enjoy history and enjoy looking into history, I really enjoy the contrast of seeing how history is flowing into the future right now. I have a piece, “Mechanical Renegade”; it’s a woman fixing a motorbike. It’s from the ’60s, but then you think about that now and you think of the feminist movement and you see all these ties. I want my art to show something that’s a remake of something that’s old and spark something in you. Or I want you to see expression through the hands I do and think about it without seeing a facial expression. I want people to understand that expression comes in a lot of different ways.
I see art in the form of tattoos all over you. Can you tell me about them?
All of my tattoos have a lot of meaning. One says “You are art.” I have a lot of plants; one is a fern, because they’re very resilient. You can try to kill them and a billion more will pop back up. I have a Bible verse, “When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I,” so when I get overwhelmed, I think back to my tattoos and think about what they mean. They help calm me down. One is the last page of “The Giving Tree,” my favorite children’s book and definitely an inspiration to my writing and art-wise.
What other hobbies and interests do you have?
I love hiking and running. I really enjoy photography and playing ukulele. Fashion is a big part of my life and expressing myself too. I enjoy being out in the community and being social.
Can you name a person or specific advice you’ve gotten that has changed your life?
Frieda Kahlo is definitely my biggest inspiration. I’ve studied a lot about her and learned about her. I see a lot of myself in her. She uses herself as her references for art, and I do a lot of that too. She does that because she can’t express herself in words. I write, but I can’t always express myself in words either. She was moved by art and expresses herself so freely. She’s definitely a massive inspiration. My parents have been my biggest motivators. Growing up, what I wanted to do, I tried. I wanted to try writing, so I became a writer. I wanted to do art, so I became an artist. If it’s what you want to do, you can do it. Nothing needs to stop you.
Emma Black is a photographer and writes Up Close and Personal, which spotlights people from all walks of life in NEPA who have a unique skill, craft, talent or trade. She is a graduate of Abington Heights High School and University of Scranton, where she studied journalism and electronic media. Emma has been with Times-Shamrock Communications since 2016 and enjoys playing, coaching and following soccer; exploring international cuisine; and doing arts and crafts in her free time. Contact: eblack@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100; @emmablack_13