Lauren Stringer was born in Great Falls, Montana. She received her BA in Art and Art History from the University of California, Santa Cruz and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art, Independent Study Program in New York. During her time in New York City, Stringer was assistant to the artist, Judy Rifka, noting this experience as essential to her understanding of herself as an artist. Stringer regularly exhibits her art in museums and galleries, writes and illustrates children’s picture books, designs sets and costumes for circus, theater, dance and performance art, and presents workshops in schools and conferences internationally and locally. She received the McKnight Fellowship for Sculpture in 1992, and again for Children’s Literature in 2012, for her story, When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky, Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One Extraordinary Riot, and again in 2020 for her story, An Abundance of Light, the Story of Matisse in Morocco. She was an artist-in-residence at the Edward Albee Foundation, the Millay Colony for the Arts, Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic, and a writer-in-residence at Milkwood Retreat (NY). Stringer's sketches and many original paintings from her books are found in the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota. Her work is also included in collections at the Mazza Museum (Findaly, OH) and the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (Abeline, TX). Lauren Stringer creates her paintings, sculptures, and stories in a pink Victorian house in Minneapolis, where she has lived for the past 34 years with her husband, Matthew Smith. Stringer writes, "I am not certain I have a non-art life. Art weaves through every part of my life— it is the lens through which I view the world and make my choices— this includes the way I raised my two children, Ruby and Cooper, who are now two beautiful creative humans making the world a better place. I now have a grandchild, who brings me joy. My gardens are full of wildness and beauty that inspires me every season. When I travel, I visit art museums in cities and bring my paints and sketchbooks to the countryside. I cannot imagine a life without art."