Laura MooreSculptor
About the Artist Laura Moore
Bio
Laura Moore is an international artist.
She has an MFA from York University, a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a Diploma of Art from Fanshawe College.
Laura has been exhibiting her work since 1998.
She is a transient member of Studio Pescarella in Pietrasanta, Italy where she spends periodic time carving stone.
From Sept 25th - Oct 07th, 2011 Laura carved stone at the Uxbridge Sculpture Symposium in Uxbridge ON. This work will become part of the Uxbridge Public Sculpture Garden's permanent collection. In May, 2011 Laura attended the Vermont Studio Centre Residency Program. In May 2010, Laura carved a large scale stone entitled Mouse at the University of Windsor Residency Program. Mouse is now part of the Thames Art Gallery's permanent collection. In 2005, Laura attended the first Atlantic Stone Carving Symposium in Inverness, Cape Breton.
Laura teaches Visual Art at York University, Toronto School of Art and Thames Art Academy.
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Artist Statement
I am a visual artist working in stone, drawing and wood relief. My work aims to enhance the viewer’s direct physical experience and meaningful human interaction by including space for participation and interaction.
Stone, the subject and material of my work, moves me in principal because it is a familiar material and I find its resistance stimulating. It is the monuments and sculptures that tell our histories, it shapes our continents while intriguingly remaining mutable. We walk on, tunnel through, climb up, excavate and build around stone. Rock is the geological muscle of our planet. It connects our minds and bodies to the earth.
Stone also forces the question of my prime interest, scale. Its discrete erosions and inherent monumentality invites us to compare our largeness and smallness against it. I am intrigued by the limits of scale. How small can a particular work be and still be able to communicate its message? How large can an environment be and still be experienced as sculpture? How do the components of a particular work formally relate to each other and to the human body of the viewer?
My previous work, entitled CX205E and 1:12, presents contemporary gadgets as symbols of our culture. Resized in stone, these works shift perception about technology and become metaphors that relate to our life experiences by exploring the tension between the monumental and the handheld, the disposable and the permanent, and the interactive and the inert.
I explored a similar spatial tension in the series where the sidewalk ends, With this series carved five portable curbs from limestone. Standard curbs are eight feet in length, by one foot wide and nine inches tall. They are mundane, everyday, modernist forms used to organize and restrict space. My intent was to alter and shift the scale of these forms, from objects of authority to references for self-scale. The curbs are a response to my surroundings, a place for contemplation and a space for reflection. The work revisits the language of minimalism in its engagement with everyday material culture.
Kernel Memory extends my interest in de-familiarizing everyday space by mutating and combining forms from the natural and technological worlds. I created acorns and a pinecone with USB stems. The marble USB kernels have an embraceable quality: the dimension of the human abdomen. Formally the objects are tangible, but conceptually they remain intangible because they are impossible. No longer disposable or seasonal, the marble quality creates permanency. By replacing the stems with USB plugs, the sculptures have had their connection to the tree that nourished them replaced with a connection to the contemporary techno-cultural world. The addition of the USB plugs asks us to imagine what these forms might plug into; what new forms of connection they might require or enable.
The series of drawings emerged from the process of the sculptures’ making and reassert the materiality of that process. The sheets of paper were under the marble acorns while they were being carved and the surfaces of the drawings bear the traces of the work of carving. The size of paper was determined by the size of the carving table and the frames of the works are based on the scale and proportions of the table the sculptures were carved on. The outlines document the movement of my air hammer, measuring tape, set square, chisel, grinder and pencil as I worked to refine the forms.
Mouse is my most recent work. Carved in Italian marble, this form re-presents a computer mouse. In the electronic world, the mouse allows computer users to navigate, select and orient themselves within the virtual space of the screen. Similarly, the up-scaled marble mouse speaks about orientation, direction and navigation within the mental grid of the city.
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Cirriculum Vitae
Education
2004-06 | MFA, York University, Toronto, ON
2001-03 | BFA, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS
1998-01 | Diploma of Art, Fanshawe College, London, ON
Solo exhibitions
2012 | TBA, Earl Selkirk Gallery, Toronto, ON
2011 | Kernel Memory, Stride Gallery, Calgary, AB
2010 | Kernel Memory, Peak Gallery, Toronto, ON
Kernel Memory, Thames Art Gallery, Chatham, ON
2009 | my sci-fi, PGP Gallery, Toronto, ON
2007 | where the sidewalk ends, Peak Gallery, Toronto, ON
2006 | 1:12, Peak Gallery, Toronto, ON
2003 | CX205E, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
Group exhibitions
2012 | The Junction, Telephone Booth Gallery, Toronto, ON (March)Spark, !dea Gallery, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, ON (March)
2011 | Outdoor Sculpture Walk, Leaside Sculpture Trail, Uxbridge, ON
Drawing Connections, Siena Art Institute, Siena, Italy
Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
2010 | Outdoor Sculpture Garden, Thames Art Gallery, Chatham, ON
Art Spin Exhibition, Planet Space, Toronto, ON
Recall, Scarborough Arts Council's 25th Annual Juried Exhibition, Corridor Gallery, Toronto, ON
CK on the Edge, Thames Art Gallery, Chatham, ON
2008 | Cluster, Peak Gallery, Toronto, ON
2007 | Showcase.07, Cambridge Galleries, Juried Exhibition, Cambridge, ON
Toronto International Art Fair, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, ON
2006 | Memory Works, World Trade and Convention Centre, Halifax, NS
Remote Splendor, 64 Steps Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, ON
January Show, Goldfarb Centre for the Arts, Toronto, ON
Toronto International Art Fair, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, ON
2005 | Stone Carving Symposium, Inverness County Centre for the Arts (Traveling), Cape Breton, NS
Small Comets, 64 Steps Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, ON
Art @ Suite 500, Miles S. Nadal Management Centre, Juried Exhibition, Toronto, ON
Terminal Degree, The Gallery, Toronto, ON
2003 | Art on the Edge, Glenhyrst Gallery of Brant, Juried Exhibition, Branford, ON
2002 | 50/50 Members Show, Khyber Centre for the Arts, Members Show, Halifax, NS
2001 | Eleven by Twelve, McIntosh Gallery U.W.O., London, ON
Permanent Collections/Public Art
2012 | USB acorn, Leaside Sculpture Trail, Uxbridge ON (June)
2010 | Mouse, Thames Art Gallery, Chatham ON
Symposium/Residency Programs
2011 | Uxbridge Sculpture Symposium, Uxbridge, ON
Vermont Studio Centre Residency, Vermont, USA
2010 | Emerging Artist Residency Program, School of Visual Arts, University of Windsor, ON
2005 | Atlantic Stone Carving Symposium, Inverness Centre for the Arts, Cape Breton, NS
Grants and Awards
2011 | Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
Vermont Studio Centre Grant, Vermont, USA
2010 | Ontario Arts Council, Visual Artist Grant
Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
2009 | Canada Council for the Arts, Project Grant
2008 | Ontario Arts Council, Visual Artist Grant
2005 | W. Lawrence Heisey Graduate Award in Fine Art, York University, Toronto, ON
2002 | Margo & Rowland Marshall Award for Sculpture, NSCAD , Halifax, NS
Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture, NSCAD, Halifax, NS
Publications/Exhibition Text
2011 | Kernel Memory, Stride Gallery, exhibition text, by Jodie James Elliott
Kernel Memory, Front Magazine, Vancouver, BC
1:12, digital memory card, NY Arts Magazine, by Jill Smith
2010 | Kernel Memory, Lighthouse Wire Magazine, Queen's University, pg.9
Kernel Memory,Thames Gallery, exhibition text, by Matthew Brower
2007 | Showcase.07, Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, ON
2006 | Reading Toronto, Angle of Incident 2, Gary Michael Dault, May 3 - Link
1:12, MFA Thesis, York University, Toronto, ON
2005 | Atalntic Stone Carving Symposium, Inverness Centre for the Arts, by Vanessa Paschakarnis
Stone Symposium: Watching Cape Breton Marble Turn to Art, by Frank MacDonald, The Inverness Oran, NS 02.11.2005
YFile – Working with the wonders of stone, by Mary-Lou Schagena - Link
Reviews
2011 | Calgary Herald, Moore, marble and memory, by Travis Reynolds
Swerve Calgary, Kernel Memory, by Drew Anderson
2010 | Chatham Daily Post, Kernel Memory, it's about scale , Elaine McEwen, January 16 (http://artsandculture.ckdp.ca/in-kernel-memory-it's-about-scale/)
Chatham Daily News, Mixing Nature and Technology, E Bajer, January 20
2007 | The Globe and Mail, Gary Michael Dault, July 07 (www.peakgallery.com)
Toronto Star, Peter Goddard, July 07 (http://www.thestar.com/article/237338)
2006 | The Globe and Mail, Gary Michael Dault, April 29 (www.peakgallery.com)
Public Lectures
2011 | Stride Gallery, Calgary, AB
2010 | University of Windsor, Windsor, ON
Thames Cultural Centre, Chatham, ON
2007 | York University, Toronto, ON
2005 | Inverness Centre for the Arts, Inverness, Cape Breton, NS
2003 | Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
Teaching
2012-2007 | Course Director, Stone and Wood Carving, Toronto School of Art, Toronto, ON
2012-2010 | Course Director, Casting Multiples, Toronto School of Art, Toronto, ON
2011 | Course Director, Sculpture: Working with Plaster-Week Intensive, Thames Art Academy, Chatham, ON
2011-2010 | Course Director, Clay Modeling and Plaster Casting, York University, Toronto, ON
2010 | Course Director, Drawing: The World as I Found it- Week Intensive, Thames Art Academy, Chatham, ON
2010-2005 | Course Instructor, Drawing: Abstract, York University, Toronto, ON
Course Instructor, Drawing: Perspective and Structure, York University, Toronto, ON
2010-2009 | Course Director, Figure Sculpture, Toronto School of Art, Toronto, ON
2008 | Course Director, Stone Carving, York University, Toronto, ON
2007 | Course Instructor, Advanced Wood and Stone Carving, York University, Toronto, ON
2006-2005 | Course Instructor, Stone Carving, York University, Toronto, ON
2006 | Course Instructor, Sculpture, Koffler Centre of Art, Toronto, ON
2005 | Course Instructor, Intro to Cement, Wood and Metal Fabrication, York University, Toronto, ON
Professional Involvement
2005-2012 | Free-Lance Sculptor, Custom Commissions -Stone and Mold Making2008 | Independent Research, Stone Carving, Studio Pescarella, Pietrasanta, Italy
2005 | Artist Assistant, Tim Whiten (mold making), York University, Toronto, ON
Artist Assistant, Yvonne Singer (foundry) York University, Toronto, ON
2004 | Independent Research, Stone Carving, Studio Pescarella, Pietrasanta, Italy
2003 | Installation Assistan, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS
Installation Assistant, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
2002 | Installation Assistant, Khyber Centre for Arts, Halifax, NS
Artist Assistant, John Greer (stone carving), Halifax, NS