by Kristen Andersen and Laura Salzberg | May 20th | @theartstudiony

Meet Laura Salzberg

Laura did not grow up drawing and painting. Her art journey began in high school when a classmate taught her how to develop film and to print black and white pictures. This led to Laura going to college to study photography, where she ended up learning about drawing, painting and mixed media as well. This opened up a whole new world for her; for the first time, she thought of herself as an artist. She did a little drawing, collage here and there but without a support system, it didn’t amount to much. After college, Laura began teaching special education in NYC public schools. Once Laura married and had her son, she stopped making art altogether. She found that she didn’t have the time or energy to do both. Her husband tried to convince her to go back to making art but it was met with resistance. Finally, when their son was about 15 and pretty self sufficient, her husband gave her a gift certificate to TASNY for Christmas. Laura started taking classes with Rebecca and other teachers at the studio and she didn’t stop!

Untitled, by Laura Salzberg

 “I found art again. I was very insecure and not sure I could do it again but Rebecca and the other teachers were so supportive, the community there was so friendly that I could take my time, develop my own style and skills and found the courage to try new things.”

Now, Laura and her husband are renting gallery space to put on their first solo show featuring Laura’s paintings! She will be exhibiting about 26 paintings  – acrylic paint and mixed media with some combination of acrylic paint, paper and mark making materials. The idea first came about when her husband suggested they do this on their anniversary last year. “Why wait for a gallery?” Laura’s husband is a jazz musician and wrote a suite of pieces based on three paintings of faces Laura did a few years ago. On opening day of the gallery, he’ll perform the songs with his trio and the paintings will be projected on a wall nearby.

Deivi at 6 years old, by Laura Salzberg

In Laura’s words, “I have continued to focus on making art dealing with issues like resistance, fear, lack of confidence, how to build an art practice, how to let people know what I do, how to improve my work, all things I think I’m getting better at and I can see progress over the last few years. I guess if I were to give advice to my pre-pandemic self it would be ‘Don’t stop. Keep going, don’t judge’”

“I don’t think of making art as a hobby, something I do in my spare time for fun. It is who I am. I am an artist.”

Those Eyes, by Laura Salzberg

“Pushing paint around, watching the colors mix, noticing happy accidents, making new discoveries is fun! Making art and seeing my own progress has helped me feel more confident as an artist and as a person. I can say to the world ‘I am an artist, this is my painting, it’s good enough to hang on the wall of this gallery, I think you’ll like it, if you love it you should buy it. I think it will bring beauty to your home.’ I couldn’t say that with confidence a year or two ago.

“I think that people see my earlier face collages as a totally different body of work from my abstract work but I see it as a progression. After the face collages, I wanted to work in a looser, more abstract  style. I have never totally let go of collage and do some collages with paint and some paintings with collage.”

Come see Laura’s beautiful art at Prince George Gallery at 15 E 27th St, NYC on Friday June 11th from 4 pm to 6 pm, and Saturday June 12th and Sunday June 13th, 2021 between the hours of 10 am and 6 pm.