A North Central artist’s vibrant painting of cacti, downtown Phoenix and the majestic sunset over the desert is bringing the look of the Southwest to PepsiCo’s premium bottled water brand.
Lauren Lee and five other artists were selected to create artwork that pays homage to the character of their Western states for the LIFEWTR bottles. Their visual reflections can be found on LIFEWTR’s latest West Coast-inspired bottle collection. These artists were announced recently after the success of LIFEWTR’s SoCal limited-time bottle design in collaboration with artist Trav, which debuted last year. That design inspired the brand to expand to seek art for four additional markets this year and the bottles can be purchased while supplies last at retail locations around their respective states.
Lee, who has been an artist since growing up in Yuma, has been a professional painter for the last eight years. She also painted the artwork that is on the water bottles as a large mural at the Roosevelt/Central Avenue light rail station. Lee said her grandmother has been buying “all the bottles in Yuma” to see her artwork.
“To be chosen as the Arizona artist was really an honor,” she said. “It hasn’t stopped feeling really special. It’s kind of incredible when something like this happens because I didn’t know it was coming. The universe just sort of aligned it.”
Lee received an email from LIFEWTR asking her to offer her artwork from the company and she had already been buying the LIFEWTR bottles as a consumer.
LIFEWTER also is going to splash the artists’ designs across in-store and out-of-home advertising, including on LIFEWTER/PepsiCo trucks. It set up scavenger hunts where the public could look on social media for clues to try to find the artists’ work in their communities. Once they found them, they received giveaways of enamel pins, patches, a bandana and other items featuring the artists’ creations on them.
Lee often holds pop-up shows to display her work in local galleries. To learn more about her work, visit www.laurenleefineart.com or visit her page on Instagram at www.instagram.com/mslaurenlee.
