Laurel began her month-long studio/residence in the LowerTown Arts District at Pinecone Gallery, 421 N. 7th Street on October 1. Central to her residency is the development of paper “components” for use in a suspended installation, which will be on display across the street from Pinecone at STUDIOmars, 418 North 7th Street. The public is invited to STUDIOmars for an opening reception to meet Laurel and view her work on Friday, October 24, from 5-7 PM.
A professional artist, Laurel has used mixed media–fabric, metal and wood armatures, polymer mesh, deconstructed books, and Japanese papers–to create installations at two New York Art Centers–the Red House Art Center in Syracuse and the Rochester Contemporary Arts Center in Rochester. Her interactive suspensions rotate in response to body and air movement, creating an ethereal and Zen-like environment. As an invited participant in the November 2013 Artist U Intensive Weekend, sponsored by the South Carolina Commission on the Arts/SC Artists’ Ventures Initiative, Laurel identified artistic growth in this media–installations–as a primary goal.
“During the course of my residency in Paducah, I am fascinated to see how the installation idea I arrived with now demands a more site-specific response to this particular town–its energy is so different from the urban setting of Greenville, SC,” notes Laurel. “Paducah Arts Alliance members share that this is a typical and appropriate experience for their artists-in-residence.”
While working on her Paducah project, Laurel has been experiencing the artistic assets of the UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art and fostering personal and professional relationships–all which she is documenting on her blog, Postcards from Paducah at www.claurelartist.com/blog.html and at http://postcardsfrompaducah.blogspot.com. “The energy generated when artists begin to share their background, their work, their resources…well, it is palpable. This is true in my encounters with the artists of Lower Town.”
Laurel has exhibited nationally, and is a 2014 grant recipient in support of the PAA residency program with the Metropolitan Arts Council of Greenville, SC. Additionally, she is a 2011 grant recipient of the Strategic Opportunity Stipend, New York Foundation for the Arts/New York State Council on the Arts/Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester.
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