Laura Duerwald

BIOGRAPHY

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. 

 

 Education                                              

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   

 

 Awards/Fellowships                             

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        

    

Solo & Featured Exhibitions

2023      Dimmitt Contemporary Fine Art, Houston, TX ( 3 person exhibit)
2023      Taplin Gallery, Princeton, NJ, “What Remains: Hetty Baiz and Laura Duerwald”
2022      TEW Galleries, Atlanta, GA, “ Dane Carder and Laura Duerwald”

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      
 

Group Exhibitions

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”    

 Academic Positions                                                            

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