Artist: Laura Garner | Location: Columbia, SC
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Artist: Laura Garner | Location: Columbia, SC
Columbia, SC
I was raised in the city of Columbia, South Carolina. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a fascination for all things odd. I love the visual arts, and always have. My deep-rooted appreciation and passion for the arts has found its voice through numerous media. Paint, charcoal, clay, assemblage, ink. Found objects. I love it all.
I like the opposites of the world we live in. The grotesque nature of it. How everything is actually topsy-turvy. I like to think I can capture these moments and pockets through paintings and other forms of visual expression. What inspires me could be a dream, an emotion, a person, a landscape, a dead bird. There are so many strata in our world and I want to feel it all. Making art helps me feel it. It brings me closer.
I make up stories when I create. I name my subjects. I talk to my paintings. It makes each one really involved. Not a manufactured approach. Very personal and weird and…well, like a child at play really. When nobody’s watching and you’re free. I forever want to play. That is my art.
After receiving my BFA with a focus in Painting and a minor in Art History from the University of South Carolina in 2011, I moved to the city of Groningen in the Netherlands until 2013. I continued with my education by pursuing a Master's Program in the Restoration and Conservation of Easel Paintings with Accademia Riaci in Florence, Italy, and completed the program in the summer of 2014. Currently, I live in Columbia, South Carolina.