SHERBURNE – Lauren Mettler is an artist on the rise and she is looking for support from her local community. A 2006 Sherburne-Earlville graduate, Mettler is in the fine-tuning process for both of her albums “Patchwork” and “A Handful of Soil.” In order to pay for the printing and production costs for the albums Mettler has begun an online fundraising campaign. Her fundraising goal is $7,470 and if she does not reach her goal by June 20 she will not receive any of the funds she has already raised. Donations of any monetary amount are welcome and there are different awards for those who donate to her campaign.

“There will be T-shirts and other things related to the project,” said Mettler when explaining the awards. “In the kick starter I have these paper mâché masks.”

The masks are handmade by Mettler and are beautifully constructed.

“I use my fine art to support my music,” she explained. “I use my fine art to help communicate it.”

While fine art is one of her passions, music is her number one love and focus.

“I am a songwriter on four different instruments: the guitar, banjo, mandolin and ukelele,” said Mettler. When asked about her music style she said, “I would say folk with bluegrass and jazz or blues influences.”

Mettler comes from a family of musicians and artists. She began by singing with her mom and later started a band called Primary Colors with her two brothers.

“I would say I owe so much of my growth to the artistic community that I was part of growing up,” said Mettler. She explained that she grew a great deal as an artist through collaborations and mutual constructive criticism. She has vivid memories of writing music with some other local artists such as Ellen Fagan, Adrian Enscoe and her brother Joseph Mettler.

“I started writing effectively, being able to effectively communicate my vision ten years ago,” she said.

The release of her two albums is something that Mettler is highly anticipating. “Patch Work” was tracked at Hamilton Music Studio and is a collaborative project.

“This one is relatively highly produced, multi-layered, and instrumentalized,” states a Mettler press release. "Patchwork" brought together many peoples' efforts, friends, local musicians, and took a considerable amount of time and attention from all who contributed, so like a patchwork quilt, was assembled with different shades, colors, and influences over the nine months it has been in progress.”

In contrast, “A Handful of Soil” is more focused on the lyrics and Mettler as a solo artist.

Mettler recorded this album in her home studio and said, “The home album is more organic, it was done very quickly... kind of like scooping a handful of soil from the ground. It's symbolic of freshness and being ready. It has much to do with being rooted in the environment here in upstate New York.”

After the two albums are printed Mettler would like to do a promotional tour and continue to find and work with other bands.

She also plans on recording some full length albums as she has a large body of work that she would like to present to the public.

“I want to take it as far as it will take me,” she said. “I would love to eventually tour internationally, particularly there a couple of songs on 'A Handful of Soil'... they have human rights themes. I hope to use them to support human rights causes.”

To support Mettler and her fundraising goal visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1684309925/years-of-patchwork-and-a-handful-of-soil.