L a u r a D u e r w a l d
Born 1961, Oceanside, NY
Lives and works in West Abington, PA
Laura Duerwald is a fulltime non- objective artist. Her career began as an illustrator and a graphic designer. In 2014, she transitioned from working as a figurative painter using oils, to pursuing abstraction and working with paper, graphite, powdered pigment, and wax. The shift allowed her to push boundaries and work more intuitively and proved to be more open- ended vehicle for imaginative interpretation. It was also a response to the minimalist art she loves.
Duerwald is inspired by the natural world, but more specifically by the patterns and rhythms she sees in nature. These appear in her art as fragments that embody nature without depicting it. Above all, her painting is about building and compressing a history into a surface. At each stage of the creative process, from the underlying rectangle or grid structure to the finish, and as layers of material are added or subtracted, she embraces happenstance and imperfection. This means letting delicate materials interact in unpredictable ways as they take on the appearance of antique manuscripts or fabrics. In some cases, a final coat of wax is added to give a piece the appearance of being encased, as if in amber. While she makes decisions about how to proceed, her goal is to map the experience of what it means to be still, pay attention, and create objects that resonate with potential meaning.
2015 Marywood University, Scranton, PA, MFA Painting
1986 Art Students League, New York, NY (postgraduate studies)
1984 Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, BFA
1981 Syracuse University London Program
2022 Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts, Inc., artist residency/fellowship
2019 Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Working Artist Grant/Purchase Award
2018 NES Artist Residency, Skagaströnd, Iceland
2016 Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, VT
2015 Northeast Biennial Twenty-Fifteen Exhibition, Scranton, PA, First Place Award in Painting
2018 Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX, “Laura Duerwald: Changeable Conditions”
Newport Contemporary Fine Arts, Newport, RI, “Spring Exhibition: Laura Duerwald,
Meredith Morten, Peter Cohen, Jessica Rosner”
Alliance Gallery, Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Narrowsburg, NY, “Laura Duerwald and Eva Polizzi”
2017 The Curator Gallery, New York, NY, “Almost Black and White: Laura Duerwald, Diane Tate Dallas Kidd, Douglas Witmer”
Wolpert Gallery, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN, “So it Seems:
Laura Duerwald and Eva Polizzi”
Newport Contemporary Fine Arts, Newport, RI, “Summer Exhibition: Laura Duerwald
Tom Gaines, Makenzie Gibson, Kim Radochia, Ben Shattuck”
Suraci Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Laura Duerwald: STRATA”
2016 Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells, ME, “Laura Duerwald, Billie Mandle, Shoshanna White”
ICON Contemporary, Brunswick, ME, “Laura Duerwald and Steven Alexander”
2015 Mahady Gallery, Scranton, PA, MFA Thesis Exhibition
2023 Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts, Inc, New Berlin, NY
2022 TEW Galleries, Atlanta, GA/ Studio Balestra, Los Angeles, CA
Corey Daniels Gallery, Welles, ME, “ Summer Exhibition”
Intersect Art and Design Fair, Palm Springs, CA , TEW Galleries, Atlanta, GA
2021 Intersect Art and Design Fair, Palm Springs, CA , TEW Galleries, Atlanta, GA
2021 Prauper Studios, Houston, TX, “FHWL”
Corey Daniels Gallery, Welles, ME, “New Work from Gallery Artists”
Alfa Gallery, Miami, FL, “Surfing”
Ellio Fine Art, Houston, Texas, “11.19.21, Inaugural Exhibition
Alfa Gallery, Miami, FL, “XS”
Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX, “In the Gallery”
Engine, Biddeford, ME, “Nano”
2019 Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX, “Chroma” Alfa Gallery, Miami, FL, “3D”
Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells, ME, “Flux”; Flux II”; “Flux III”
Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ, “Somewhere We Landed”
New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA, “30th Annual International Invitational Salon of Small Works”
2018 Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY, “Beyond Black and White”, curated by Li Trincere and Henry Brown
Curator Gallery, New York, NY, “Celebrating Our Fifth Year”
New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA, “29th Annual International Invitational Salon of Small Works”
Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ, “Somewhere Over the Interconnected Rainbow & Prospero’s Grand St. Masque”
Mahady Gallery, Scranton, PA, 2018 Marywood University Art Faculty Biennial
2017 Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX, “Summer Group Show” Newport Contemporary Fine Arts, Newport, RI, “New and Emerging Artists”
Boecker Contemporary, Heidelberg, Germany (also travelled to Saarbruchen and Vielsam), “Black Box”, curated by Arvid Boecker
New Arts, Inc. Kutztown, PA, “28th International Invitational Salon of Small Works”
Knockdown Center, Maspeth, Queens, NY, “Nasty Women”
Waverly Small Works Gallery, Waverly, PA, “First Look” (inaugural invitational)
2016 Corridor Projects, Dayton, OH (travelled to Germany, the U.K., and locations throughout the United States, “Fiction v.2”, curated by Jeffrey Cortland Jones
2015 Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, New York, NY, “Small Works”, curated by Richard Timperio
ArtWorks Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Northeastern Biennial Twenty-Fifteen”, curated by Hal Bromm
Mahady Gallery, Scranton, PA, 2015 Marywood University Art Faculty Biennial
A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY, “Wish You Were Here 14”
Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, NY, “Postcards from the Edge”
AFA Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Small Works, Big Deal”
2014 Bowery Gallery, New York, NY, “23rd Annual Juried Show”, curated by David Cohen
A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY, “Wish You Were Here 13”
2013 Artworks Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Northeastern Biennial Twenty-Thirteen”
Mahady Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Northeastern Biennial Twenty-Thirteen”
2015-2020 Marywood University, Scranton, PA, Instructor of Drawing and Painting
1990-1991 University of Texas, Austin, TX (Extension), Instructor of Drawing and Illustration
1991-1992 Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX, Instructor of Drawing and Illustration
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