Biography

“I have been drawing shadows of trees in my garden since I was a teenager.  I think this was perhaps the beginning of my need to make.  Looking back it was about capturing the fleeting nature of trees,  positive and negative spaces and forms in the landscape.   It helped me understand the need to focus less on the recognition of an image and allow the energy and spontaneity of process to become celebrated.   I tend to call all of my work drawings even though most of them are drawings combined with oil and mixed media paintings, mostly because the genesis of each piece begins and ends with drawing. 

My motivation has always been my belief in drawing and the act of finding my own figuration.  The process of which is at the very centre of how I work.  Drawing to me is simply about having a love for making an image, with the image in turn feeling truer to me than the real thing.   I seek to make drawings that embrace and demonstrate a subtle stillness and movement in life, through themes exploring nature, the portrait and the fleeting landscape. ”

Raised in the foothills of Millarville,  Alberta in Canada,  Laurie grew up with a deep understanding of and respect for nature; specifically the relationships we as human beings have with it.   It is this connection to nature, that has continually drawn her to England throughout her life.  A purist in many ways, Laurie’s drawings are as emotional as they are intellectual.  “ My relationship with the english landscape is very sensory, leading me to approach nature drawings as I would a portrait, where time and space enter the work in the form of layers.  The trees here seem to emit a silence and light, and have an unmeasurable desire to be.”

“Until recently I never thought of myself as a landscape artist, my profession being a visual artist who loves to draw, making large intimate drawings within nature, as well as figurative and oil works.   Yet increasingly it is the environment around me and in which I live that is my constant source of inspiration - it informs both my oil paintings and drawings and is the subject of the majority of my work in the studio today. ”

After studying fine arts at the University of Calgary, Canada, Laurie graduated with an Honours BID and thesis prize from the University of Manitoba, in the Faculty of Architecture in 1993, where she also taught sketch camps and drawing classes.  A compliment to the fact that she has been drawing throughout her life and that drawing remains the genesis of her work today.  Laurie has also been involved in leading specialised adult and teenage drawing workshops with organisations like Dartmoor Arts, and Coombe studios and has also recently helped to found and run an art and forest camp for children.  (artandforestcamp.co.uk) “Teaching and drawing alongside artists of all ages further inspires my own work and is something which I am very passionate about..” 

Laurie has been a part of many solo and group exhibitions in Canada, Switzerland and England including collaborating on interdisciplinary, performance and design based projects.  She has upcoming projects in Canada and since arriving in the Uk has shown at the RWAAutumn Exhibition every year since 2007, won the prize for Excellence in Drawing in 2010, and had 2 pieces selected for the RWA DRAWN Exhibition in 2013. She has also exhibited in many AAF’s in London, The Mall Galleries, Badcocks Gallery and CCANW to name a few.

Education  

1989-1993                 University of Manitoba, BID (Bachelor of Interior Design) Degree,

                                  Faculty of Architecture,Winnipeg, Manitoba(Thesis Prize Winner)

1988-1989                 General Studies (Fine Arts),  University of Calgary,  Calgary, Alberta

Exhibitions

2016                          RWA @ The Atkinson 'New Royal West of England Academicians  2011-2016'   Atkinson Gallery, Millfield, Somerset

2016                          REN fine art, The Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead, London

2014                          BADCOCKS GALLERY, Affordable art Fair, Hampstead & Battersea

2013                          DRAWN, The RWA(Royal West of England Academy, Bristol)

2012                          TREES, Center for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Haldon Forest, Exeter

                                    LYNN PAINTER STAINERS EXHBITION, Mall Galleries, London

                                    AFFORDABLE ART FAIR, Badcocks Gallery, Cornwall

2011                          NEW BEGINNINGS - Badcocks Gallery, Cornwall

2010                          EINZIGARTIG, Halde Galerie, Widen, Switzerland

2009                         Small Drawings and Paintings, Artfirm Gallery, Calgary Alberta

2007                         MEMORY OF GREEN, Artfirm Gallery, Calgary, Alberta

2002                        “abstrAKT”. Halde Galerie,   Solo drawing & painting exhibition with sculptor

                                  Evelyne Brader-Frank.  Widen, Switzerland

2001                         “The Poetry Of Us – finding my own figuration”.

                                  Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art.

                                  Solo drawing & painting exhibition adjoining sculptor Evelyne Brader-Frank. 

                                  Calgary, Alberta

1997                         “A continuation of works” Wallace Galleries Ltd. Calgary, Alberta

                                 “For the Love of Scarlet” McIntyre Bills Corp. Studio. Calgary, Alberta

1995                         “Laurie Steen – Paintings” Jackson Kalef Gallery w/ The Bistro Café. Calgary, Alberta

                                 “The Living Sketch – a moment within nature” 808 Studio – Alberta Hotel Building.