A West Virginia University connection comes full circle this week when Fairmont-based painter Lauren Adams returns for her second year as a juried artist at the WVU Mountaineer Week Arts & Craft Fair.

“It’s a great atmosphere,” she said. “They really take care of the artists, and the public is so engaged. Anyone who loves nature, bold color and something inspirational, please stop by and say ‘hi’ because that’s what I offer.”

Adams’ work is rooted in the place that raised her and in the feel of paint in her hands. She grew up in Fairmont, often creating alongside her younger sister, but college is when art transformed into a calling.

“That’s when I really got serious about what art meant to me and what I wanted to do with the rest of my life,” she said.

WVU helped shape that path. Though a studio artist, Adams immersed herself in art history on campus while working to complete her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, and found fresh momentum in new peers and ideas.

“Being around a new group of artists introduced me to different ways of creating,” she said.

She still credits Art History and Museum Professions professor Kristina Olson, also the director of the School of Art and Design in the WVU College of Creative Arts and Media, for sparking a love of modern architecture that continues to inform her compositions. Another mentor, Lynn Boggess at Fairmont State University, instilled in her the love of the process of making a painting. She said it was a lesson that stuck.

Today, that process shows up on the canvas as poured paints and mixed-media layers — landforms and weather, feeling and function.

“My two main drivers are inspiration from nature and the materiality of my paint,” Adams said.

Adams keeps her studio in Fairmont and her audience wide. She sells online, ships to galleries and works with Capital Artist Collective in Washington. Licensing has brought her pieces into homes and public spaces through retailers such as Crate & Barrel, while larger works have landed in department stores and hotels. The placements that stay with her most, though, are those in hospitals.

“I love when my work is placed in healing, comforting settings,” she said.

Art is also a family affair. Her husband, Derek Overfield, is an artist and and their day-to-day rhythm remains simple — time in nature, time in the studio, repeat.

Her advice for emerging artists, especially those at WVU — stay true to yourself, don’t let anyone discourage you, don’t chase trends and follow what truly speaks to you.

“Somehow I found my way, and they will find theirs, too.”

At Mountaineer Week, Adams said she’s glad to be back where the conversation flows easily between artists, students, alumni and other attendees. It’s a chance for visitors to see her work up close — the texture, the color, the movement — and for Adams to be reminded why she paints.