Laura Larabee was raised on a farm overlooking the Mississippi River near Sabula, Iowa. She completed a double major in fine art and
teaching at Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, with later courses at Wayne State in Nebraska. She also has taken workshops by nationally known artists, John Seerey-Lester, Carel P. Brest Van Kempen and J.F. Landsdowne. She taught K-12 art in Nebraska for two years before moving to Iowa
and opening her own studio. As an artist, Larabee shows her work at art fairs, exhibitions, galleries and through commissions.
Check out Laura’s website at lauralarabeestudio.com
Artist’s Statement:
What happens when an artist travels? Are they attracted to the same subject matter? Paint in the same style? Does anything change? Travel brings transformation. How does this affect art? These are the questions I asked myself as I brought this exhibit together. My artwork is regional in subject matter with a focus on rural landscapes. But I also love to travel, and have traveled to many places around the world and in the U.S. Trudging along my camera, pencils and paints on my travels is standard. I found that the landscape wherever I’m at still competes for my attention the most, but to my chagrin, what really interested me was all the usual tourist views that everybody looks at! I happily snap and sketch the Grand Canyon, and Inspiration Falls and Stonehenge just like everybody else. When I do paintings of my travels, my style remains the same. I apply the colors and brush work the same. No epiphanies here! But I still have a compulsion to paint and share what I experienced as if I had something new to say. Why? Although the sites may be seen by thousands of people, what is different about where you’re from to where you are visiting is the very atmosphere itself. The color, light and density of air changes, and that is really what I was feeling. The Badlands were violent that night. The Australian coastline was cold, noisy with a black and white light that was difficult to see, You could feel that the sun was closer. England was soft and damp with a chill that never let up. The southwest is bright red with air that is so light it can make you dizzy. Compare this with our heavy, hazy, green Iowa. So travel. Enjoy the sights, but take note of the air, color and light. That’s what the artist will be seeing.