Biography

Laura Van Horne is a mixed-media artist who works in encaustic, acrylic, watercolor, ink, resin, textiles, and ceramics. She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and moved to Seattle, WA in 1994. She has her MA in Speech Pathology, and has studied acrylic and encaustic painting at Pratt Fine Art Center. She has been painting for about 20 years and teaching art classes for 10 years.

Since childhood, Laura has been passionate about art. When she is not creating on canvas, she is creating in her head. Common motifs in Laura’s work are often everyday objects such as houses, dresses, birds, and vintage objects. Many of her pieces are mixed media and include found organic objects, textiles, pages from books, or items from flea markets.

Laura has participated in a number of group and solo art shows over the past 15 years. She presently paints and teaches out of her Seattle studio/gallery space.

Personal Statement

I create art because I have to. It is what drives me. I gather inspiration from so many different things. I am drawn to nature, photography, humor, and everyday objects. Much of my art is vintage inspired. I use vintage magazines, photos, textiles and clothing as inspiration to connect the past to my own experiences. I like to bring a contemporary view to objects from another era.

I enjoy many styles of painting. I use a variety of materials, and different processes of working. I love mixed media for that reason. I can incorporate a photo from something that caught my eye, an object my son found for me on a walk, a beautiful piece of fabric from one of my grandma’s dresses, or words I have written, and pull it all together in an encaustic or acrylic mixed-media painting. I find encaustic wax paintings very satisfying to work on as they are multi-sensory. The smell of the wax, the texture, the sound of the hotplate cracking as it heats up or cools down, the vibrancy of colors, and the sheen of the cooled wax entice me. My ink and resin pieces are more meditative works and, as a result, they appear organic in nature. I see so many different things in them, geodes, science experiments, human cells, orbs.