Originally from Miami Florida, Laura was one of the first students for the fine arts magnet program at Southwood Middle School Center for the Arts, a program that continues today. This experience exposed her to many different forms of art using a multitude of different media – pen and ink, clay, sculpting, etching, casting, textiles, to name a few. As a part of the program she was featured in newspaper articles and worked alongside other up and coming artists. After a year and a half, she transferred to the music program and eventually went off to college as a voice major.
Laura graduated Summa Cum Laude from The Art Institute of Atlanta with a BFA in Graphic Design. In 2013 she discovered an encaustic workshop in Atlanta, Georgia and progressively began to narrow her medium of choice to Encaustic. She resides in Saint Johns, a northern suburb of St. Augustine Florida, and is a professional web developer.
“I have always been a jack of all trades, master of none kind of person and that has made focusing on any craft a challenge and encaustic paint adds challenges of its own. Sometimes I have a hard time outputting what I envision, but with that challenge comes opportunity. Working with encaustic opens so many windows of artistic expression, it’s quite overwhelming and exciting at the same time.
For me, working with wax is a true lesson in letting go with a permission slip to experiment and see where it takes me. Overall, my goal is to create art that I enjoy and hope it speaks to someone else as well.”
Laura Phillips
