Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Berman.
Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have always been an artist. As a child, I played with clay in the creek behind my grandmother’s house in North Carolina, and I filled closets with stacks of my drawings. In school, I had an equal love for math and art. Discovering the printmaking medium in college bridged my passions for abstract thinking, science, and discovery.
I have been making prints now for over 30 years, and my processes are purposefully open-ended, iterative, and improvisational. Rather than focusing on the end game in my art, my focus is on the journey of making, which keeps me alive in the making of my work.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The path of an artist is never linear. I certainly have had some challenges along the way, and I have also had amazing support from people in the art world who I deeply admire. In my career, I have worked mostly in education and for non-profit arts organizations. I have struggled financially at times, and I have worked through challenges related to the expectations of being an artist.
Two of the most pivotal times in my career were to begin teaching at the Kansas City Art Institute and becoming a parent. Each of these aspects of my life inextricably contributes to who I am as an artist and person.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work with printmaking, collage, and painting to create works on paper. My work is known for its signature use of color and layered imagery. I am inspired by nature, rocks, and the earth itself. I have spent a lot of time in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, where the landscape of earth and sky is unmediated, and from the hilltops, one can see and experience the curvature of the earth.
I work with galleries and publishers across the country, and I have a longstanding collaborative relationship with Pele Prints in St. Louis. My work is commissioned and collected widely, and one of my most recent projects is with the Children’s Mercy Research Institute in Kansas City. I am most proud of my work when my children see it and express their pride in what I do.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was a studious and quiet child. I moved around a lot with my family and overall, I have lived in ten different states. I was quite a reader, once attempting to read each classic novel in my local library.
Though fiction held my attention during my childhood, as an adult I mostly read non-fiction. I have always had a strong self-identity, probably a result of moving around so much plus growing up as a vegetarian, which was unusual during my childhood.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.laurabermanprojects.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bermanlaura/
Image Credits
Lindsay Clipner Images
