BIOGRAPHY
Laura Rice’s early foray into the world of art includes the “Macramé Owl Series” of the late 70’s. Several of these works from this seminal period still hang on the walls of her parent’s friends’ houses despite her insistence that they could be removed without hurting her feelings. After that her talents lay dormant for many years as she pushed aside creative yearnings for other artistic challenges such as trying to get her curly locks to feather like Farrah Fawcett’s hair.
Laura's rediscovery of all things arty was due largely to her high school typing teacher Mrs. Holden who whined endlessly at her students in a nasally, monotonous, southern accent, “Quit yer pecking on the type writers.” This voice and Laura’s ineptitude for typing led her to dropping/failing out of typing class and enrolling in a real art class for the first time.
Years have passed and she has a Bachelor of Arts in Art from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Secondary Education Teaching Credential in Art from San Jose State University. In addition to her degrees, she has dabbled extensively in a variety of art classes and workshops to hone her skills in a variety of media.
Over the years, she has learned that the making of art and the making of a space for people to make art are inexorably intertwined. Solo time in the studio is essential, but so is creating art in community with others. During her 25 years of teaching art, her lessons were grounded in formal training, but infused with adventure by asking, "What if...?" What if we take all the students to the beach to build earthwork sculptures? What if we have a blacklight mural painting party? What if we draw at warp speed with a pencil in each hand?
Laura's artist friends sometimes worried that she was losing her grip on reality when she described her employment as a high school art teacher as “one of the best jobs in the world,” but she knew that her students' creativity fed her own. Now recently retired from public education, she is thrilled to have free time to spend in her new, giant studio where she makes artwork and hosts The Mess Factory, creativity workshops for adults, based on play and experimentation.
Laura's artwork can be seen at extremely important, sophisticated, and prestigious venues around the greater Santa Cruz area, where extremely important, sophisticated, and prestigious people hang out and talk about extremely important, sophisticated, and prestigious things.
Laura Rice’s early foray into the world of art includes the “Macramé Owl Series” of the late 70’s. Several of these works from this seminal period still hang on the walls of her parent’s friends’ houses despite her insistence that they could be removed without hurting her feelings. After that her talents lay dormant for many years as she pushed aside creative yearnings for other artistic challenges such as trying to get her curly locks to feather like Farrah Fawcett’s hair.
Laura's rediscovery of all things arty was due largely to her high school typing teacher Mrs. Holden who whined endlessly at her students in a nasally, monotonous, southern accent, “Quit yer pecking on the type writers.” This voice and Laura’s ineptitude for typing led her to dropping/failing out of typing class and enrolling in a real art class for the first time.
Years have passed and she has a Bachelor of Arts in Art from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Secondary Education Teaching Credential in Art from San Jose State University. In addition to her degrees, she has dabbled extensively in a variety of art classes and workshops to hone her skills in a variety of media.
Over the years, she has learned that the making of art and the making of a space for people to make art are inexorably intertwined. Solo time in the studio is essential, but so is creating art in community with others. During her 25 years of teaching art, her lessons were grounded in formal training, but infused with adventure by asking, "What if...?" What if we take all the students to the beach to build earthwork sculptures? What if we have a blacklight mural painting party? What if we draw at warp speed with a pencil in each hand?
Laura's artist friends sometimes worried that she was losing her grip on reality when she described her employment as a high school art teacher as “one of the best jobs in the world,” but she knew that her students' creativity fed her own. Now recently retired from public education, she is thrilled to have free time to spend in her new, giant studio where she makes artwork and hosts The Mess Factory, creativity workshops for adults, based on play and experimentation.
Laura's artwork can be seen at extremely important, sophisticated, and prestigious venues around the greater Santa Cruz area, where extremely important, sophisticated, and prestigious people hang out and talk about extremely important, sophisticated, and prestigious things.
