About

Laura is a figurative expressionist painter and architect(ure graduate) who makes work that seeks to synthesize multiple ideas into single objects.
Her artistic practice is split between painted landscapes depicting plant specimens + ecosystems and elaborate handmade framing devices that touch on the human-made constructions which have been built and designed in response to these landscapes.

Beyond faithfully recording visual pragmatics, Laura aims to unpick + understand the layered structures that make up a given place – painted and recorded in thin layers of traditionally applied oil paint. In isolation these recordings can seem trite + simplistic but once combined seemingly create the elusive depth and nuance of a place that feels entirely out of reach if one attempted to recreate the process in reverse.

The whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

The process of layering her observations + musings – and trusting the process of a studied practice – is, in itself, a fundamental part of the delight Laura finds in creating her work. Knowing that at some point the studied landscape will make itself apparent once sufficient data and recordings have been contributed.

While interest across historical research, architectural theory and technical precision underpin her work, the highly evocative yet non-narrative imagery she draws from, allows the central focus of the work to remain on the ambiguity between the reality and the illusion of her figurative landscapes.

Laura works part time in architecture practice, is a seasonal acedemic in the University of Queensland’s Architecture Dept & lives and works from her home studio in Brisbane/Meanjin, Australia.

EDUCATION
2014 Masters of Architecture University of Queensland
2011 Bachelor of Architectural Design University of Queensland

COMPETITIONS

2022 Finalist Mosman Art Prize. Mosman NSW
2021 Finalist Hawkesbury Art Prize, Purple Noon Gallery, Freemans Reach NSW
2020 Finalist Little Things Art Prize, St Cloche Gallery, Sydney
2020 Finalist Mosman Art Prize, Sydney
2020 Finalist Glover Prize, Tasmania
Highly Commended – Glover Prize
Winner Children’s Choice Award – Glover Prize
2019 Finalist Brisbane Portrait Prize, Brisbane
2019 Finalist Milburn Art Prize, Brisbane Institute of Art,
Winner Milburn Art Prize, Brisbane Institute of Art.
2019 Finalist Pro Hart Outback Art Prize, Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery
Winner People Choice Award Pro Hart Outback Art Prize. Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery
2019 Finalist Lethbridge Small Scale Art Prize (Group 1), Brisbane
2017 Finalist Hadley’s Art Prize, Tasmania
2017 Finalist Glover Prize, Tasmania
2017 Finalist Little Things Art Prize – St Cloche Gallery, Sydney
2015 Award of Commendation – Architecture in Perspective. American Society of Architectural Illustrators ASAI

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 Soft Skeletons, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2022 Fern Clouds, Sophie Gannon Gallery. Melbourne
2021 Grotesque Grotto, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2020 Pteridomania Selected Works, Curatorial & Co Gallery, Sydney
2019 Patterned Terrain. Brisbane Institute of Art, Brisbane
2017 Selected Works, Myers Ellyett Architecture Office, Brisbane
2017 Selected Works, Rotheloman Architecture Office, Brisbane
2016 Layered Terrain, Percolator Gallery, Brisbane
2015 Precise Terrain, Baber Architecture Studio & Gallery, Brisbane
2012 Narcissus Exhibition + mural installation, Puk Gallery, Brisbane
2012 Narcissus Exhibition, Lust for Life Gallery, Brisbane
2010 Like Me, Like You, Stella Gallery, Brisbane

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 Summer, Jan Murphy Gallery Brisbane
2022 Coast to Coast. Fundraising Exhibition. St Cloche Gallery. Sydney
2021 City in the Sun Exhibition. Museum of Brisbane
2020 Darlings Group Show. Curatorial & Co. Syndey
2020 The Storytellers Exhibition. Museum of Brisbane. Brisbane
2019 November Group Show. The Gallery – Brisbane Quarter. Brisbane
2018 Gentle Northerly, Museum of Brisbane
2011 Papillon. Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne

INTERVIEWS

2021 Museum of Brisbane – City in the Sun Interview
2020 Innerspace Contempory Art Gallery Interview
2018 Pecha Kucha Brisbane Presentation