A Pacific Northwest artist, born near the Hanford Reservation shortly after World War II. The family relocated to the Portland, Oregon area, which is where she spent the remainder of her childhood. After graduating from Central Washington University in 1978 with a degree in Fine Arts, and a degree in Secondary Art Education, Laura finished her education with a Masters of Fine Arts from Arizona State University in 1980. Upon returning to the PacificNorthwest, Laura married a fellow artist and raised three children. They now enjoy the company of six grandchildren. Laura recently retired after 21 years teaching art at Toppenish High School. When not painting or running her and her husbands seasonal fruit and mercantile, they enjoy visiting their children and grandchildren, sightseeing, and throwing the ball for their dog, Henry.
After 42 years of living in the Yakima Valley, I developed a deep appreciation of the wide-open skies and the simplicity of a raw and reducted landscape. I began to marvel at the beauty of the change in weather and the moods the change of seasons reflected on the hillsides of the high plains desert. The twisting textures of the sage brush and the strength of the plant life and its continuing survival in these harsh conditions. For me, it was a metaphor for life experiences; the hard ships, the survival, and the joy of finding an understated, yet majestic beauty. My work eventually incorporated a personal auto biographical narrative and included other landscapes from the Pacific Northwest. These works symbolized the storytelling of events of my life in a surrealistic tapestry of events and personal symbolism. My hope is that the viewer can relate their own vision and life events.
Art work and Gallery inquiries.
