About Laura H Elliott BA (Hons) 

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| Contemporary Painter & Metal Clay Designer | Curator| Art Writer | Art Vault Magazine |

Artist Statement:

“I am the same in the arts as I am with life and learning, inquisitive and driven. I have completed both self-directed practice and courses studying the arts, including an Access Art and Design Diploma and Art and Media Bachelor of Arts with Honors. Since gaining these two qualifications, I have created mixed media paintings and metal clay jewellery designs side by side. These two different mediums share more characteristics than people often think, with one medium directly inspiring the other with the subject of landscapes a unifying factor. Additionally I have constantly been exploring abstract form and colour in my mixed media paintings, crossing over to my metal clay designs. All of my artworks are directly inspired by landscapes and are influenced by my thought processes, emotions and mood at the time of creation. My artworks create an open dialogue of my experiences, thoughts, feelings akin to a visual diary, a representation of who I am and the way I processes my life and the world around me. My work can be purchased through eight representative galleries, including Degreeart.com Gallery, Nude Tin Can Gallery, Riverside Gallery & Framing and Art in the Heart Gallery. I have coupled my artistic practice with exploring my passion for writing, which enables me present my work in a number of international print and online publications, including Art and Museum Magazine, Creativ Paper Magazine, Artist Talk Magazine and Iris Art Magazine. My artist practice is a reflection of who I am, which has always been a deep love and is something that is a part of my identity.”

Gallery Representation:

  • Cromford Studio and Gallery, The Market Place, Cromford, Derbyshire, DE4 3RE, U.K.

Art Agent:

Qualifications:

  • Art and Media BA (Hons) – University of the Creative Arts, Farnham (2008)
  • Art and Design Access Diploma (2003)
  • Art and Design and History A Level (1995)

Professional References:

Biography:

“Laura H Elliott BA (Hons), Dip is an emerging mixed-media artist based in Berkshire, U.K. creating in the two mediums of mixed media paintings and silver metal clay designs.

I am the same in the arts as I am with life and learning, inquisitive and driven. It is frequently said that many artists have always been creative; however, this is the case with Laura H Elliott, reinforced by her parent’s and families vivid memories of her early creations through to her art studies explored during attendance at school as a teenager. Throughout Laura’s teenage years, she drew inspiration from artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Willem de Koonin, Frida Kahlo, Clyfford Still, David Hockney and Wassily Kandinsky; however, she has a lifelong fascination of the work of master artist Pablo Picasso and how he abstracted and manipulated the three dimensional form, exploring and developing it to fit into his two dimensional cubist paintings. During Laura’s final A’ Level year, she became familiar with figurative oil painter Anthony Green, a member of the Royal Academy. Laura researched and contacted Anthony Green directly to request an in-person interview; he invited her and her tutor to his home studio for the day. Laura found speaking to Anthony Green a deeply exciting and enriching experience for her course and her passion for the arts; something, that she has drawn inspiration from ever since.

Although she worked in different professional fields up until 2002, she always held in the back of her mind the desire to pursue her passion in the arts and she returned to pursue her ‘pipe-dream’. Laura’s primary professional art training has been gained through an Art and Design Access Diploma (2003) and Art and Media Bachelor of Arts with Honours (2009). Laura’s four areas of focus during these two courses where: fine art, photography and film; with her subject of academic and practical focus of the representation of the human portrait. It was during 2006 when she began her professional artist career while simultaneously working as a mixed media painter and actively exhibiting her work. She found that becoming a professional artist and gaining her Art and Media BA (Hons) degree both a self validating and confidence building experience.

The challenge of working with clay has been a passion and fascination since Laura was 13, where she learnt the basic skills with a gifted tutor at her school. It was aged 15 when she first picked up a tube of acrylic paint when she found a second, fascinating medium. Laura found acrylic paint so diverse and freeing, allowing her the ability to create artworks which simultaneously offer both watercolour and oil paint effects. It was during her final year of her Art and Design A’ Level she Laura specialised in acrylic painting, featuring the subject of figurative portraits, using colour and emotional expression to create a narrative. These emotional and cathartic artworks taught her so much about colour and form; it paved the way for her re-started her art practice many years later, in 2002. As she moved into her 30s, Laura continued to attend galleries; however, it was during the start of her Access Art and Design Diploma when she discovered the popular movement of abstract-expressionism. Over the following years, she often return to draw inspiration from the abstract and expressionist movements, which incorporate energetic, emotional content and spontaneous gestures with blocks of abstraction and colour; a style which I have applied to my two mediums of focus: painting and clay. The next artist that Laura discovered was David Hockney, who she deeply admires and of who she views as a kindred spirit. His simultaneous practice in both photography and painting fascinates her, with his playful exploration of perspective reminding her of the cubist movement in so many ways.

It was from 2007 to 2009, Laura set-up and ran an artist group called the ‘International Association of Two and Three Dimensional Artists’ (IATTDA) running an exhibition program in the U.K., Europe and the US. However, she closed this group due to serious family health issues, from which she returned to focus on pursuing her own career path and, subsequently undertook her first solo exhibition titled ‘British Scapes: A Collection by Laura H Elliott’ at the Bridgewater Arts Trust, Somerset. This exciting step led to her being involved in a range of exciting group exhibition opportunities, coupled with successfully gaining her Art and Media Bachelor of Arts with Honours in 2009. It was after this achievement when Laura began to build her artist career to the next level, when she discovered the exciting medium of silver, copper and bronze metal clay in 2010. The medium of silver metal clay was created in the 90s in Japan, which mixed very small particles of metal, mixed with an organic binder and water. The clay is then worked by hand by Laura, which is then air dried and fired in a kiln, which burns away the binder and leaves behind a solid metal miniature sculpture. This medium enabled her to simultaneously explore both two and three dimensional artworks; a creative process she relishes with the subject of landscapes creating a unified dialogue.

It was in 2013 when Laura gained her first gallery representation with Degreeart.com Gallery, London, coupled with being a Signature Art Prize 2013 People’s Vote – Painting finalist. Following this success, Laura officially launched her metal clay designs which she titled the ‘Landscape Gems Collection’ at Flux Exhibition held at the prestigious Royal College of Arts, London in December 2015. The curator Lisa Gray wrote about Laura’s work in the Palette Pages within an artist interview about her work “…her work is intricate and beautiful, displaying rawness and luxury, a combination that adds to the beauty of her work.” This successful exhibition led to Laura opening a new chapter with her ‘Landscape Gems Collection’ when she was accepted as an artist with the Nude Tin Can Gallery, St Albans, Hertfordshire. This achievement has enabled her work to gain a fresh new collector base within an ever changing, progressive exhibition schedule, leading to subsequently be accepted to exhibit within multiple additional galleries and exhibitions, including being awarded a finalist place in the ‘Now That’s What I Call Art Competition 2017 ’ at the Laura I. Gallery, Abbey Road, London. Laura has been exploring her passion for writing, enabling her to convey her artist practice by featuring her work in a number of international print and online publications, including Art and Museum Magazine, Creativ Paper Magazine, Artist Talk Magazine and Iris Art Magazine.

Laura’s practice took a leap forward in the summer of 2017, when she was gifted a home studio that has become a fundamental part of her life, offering her a peaceful dedicated peaceful space for her creative process.  The difference in Laura’s two specialist mediums is mainly evident in the first stages as each has its own process, requirements and challenges. Painting is an unfocused, instinctive process in which the only planning she undertakes is by choosing a simple colour palette and the surface she will paint on. In comparison, the initial stages of creating with metal clay necessitate planning, due to the space, products and tools required. Laura feels that each of the mediums she specialises in afford her the ability to freely express who she is, yet progressively develop her artistic practice. Laura Elliott’s artwork are directly inspired by landscapes, yet influenced by her thought processes, emotions and mood at the time of creation, which allows a fluidity of ideas and a freedom of exploration within her work. Art is Laura’s way of creating an open dialogue of her experiences, thoughts, feelings akin to a visual diary, a representation of who she is and is the way she processes her life and the world around her. Art is a representation of Laura’s persona having always been her passion, a part of her identity.”

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