Lauri Ketchum has always been creative. As a child, she would spend hours lining up her collection of horse figures and drawing each one. As she got older, she helped to paint murals for her elementary school. Older still, she happily drew bugs in Biology class for her friends.

With a Batchelor of Science in Business Administration (Accounting) degree from Oklahoma State University, Ketchum pursued careers in government and public education, while raising two children with her husband Roger. After retiring in 2016, that creative nudge became more of a push, and Ketchum began painting, first in watercolor, then acrylics, and ultimately oils, which is her medium of choice. Ketchum attends many workshops by artists she admires.

Ketchum still helps her family with a small cow and calf operation. Ketchum’s agricultural roots and life-long love affair with the American cowboy have fueled her concentration in Western art. Ketchum and her siblings showed Black Angus heifers for many years, and helped with feeding, working calves, moving cattle, and all that comes with a cattle ranch. Those days spent around her family’s Black Angus cattle figure prominently in both Ketchum’s memories and her paintings.