The paintings of Laura Duerwald are constructed out of paper, pigment, linen, and wax, using a process of addition and subtraction. They employ an acute sensitivity to the character of each element, and the poetic possibilities of their various combinations. Torn and folded paper rubbed with powdered graphite, salvaged cloth stained and dyed by organic substances, a deep embrace of process and happenstance, combine to create a tactile sense of place and evoke the natural flux of time, atmosphere and topography. The cadences of pattern and repetition are potent sources of meaning in Duerwald's work. Their rhythms encourage meditative connections of mind and body, like an awareness of one's breath, and enable constantly shifting internal and external conditions to be embedded in her process and embodied in her paintings.
Laura Duerwald received a BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University before moving to New York City, where she worked as an illustrator and graphic designer. Turning her focus to painting, she studied at the Art Students League, undertook independent studies in Italy, and earned an MFA in painting from Marywood University. Duerwald has been awarded fellowships and artist residencies at the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, and the NES Foundation in Skagastrond, Iceland. Her work has been exhibited in solo and curated exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, as well as in national and international group shows, and is held in numerous private collections throughout the United States. She works and resides in the foothills of the Endless Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania.
b. 1961, Oceanside, NY
EDUCATION
2015
Marywood University, Scranton, PA, MFA Painting
1986
Art Students League, New York, NY (postgraduate studies)
1984
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, BFA
1981
Syracuse University London Program
RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS
2022
Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts, Inc., artist residency/fellowship
2019
Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Working Artist Grant/Purchase Award
2018
NES Artist Residency, Skagaströnd, Iceland
2016
Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, VT
2015
Northeast Biennial Twenty-Fifteen Exhibition, Scranton, PA, First Place Award in Painting
SOLO AND FEATURED EXHIBITIONS
2023
Dimmitt Contemporary Art, Houston, TX, “Affinities: Laura Duerwald, Carmen McNall, Kit Porter”
Talpin Gallery, Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, “What Remains: Hetty Baiz and Laura
Duerwald”
2022
Tew Galleries, Atlanta, GA, “Laura Duerwald: New Work”
Tew Galleries/Studio Balestra, Los Angeles, CA, “Dane Carder and Laura Duerwald”
2018
Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX, “Laura Duerwald: Changeable Conditions”
Newport Contemporary Fine Arts, Newport, RI, “Spring Exhibition: Laura Duerwald,Meredith Morten, Peter Cohen, Jessica Rosner”
Alliance Gallery, Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Narrowsburg, NY, “Laura Duerwald and Eva Polizzi”
2017
The Curator Gallery, New York, NY, “Almost Black and White: Laura Duerwald, Diane Tate DallasKidd, Douglas Witmer”
Wolpert Gallery, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN, “So it Seems: Laura Duerwald and Eva Polizzi”
Newport Contemporary Fine Arts, Newport, RI, “Summer Exhibition: Laura Duerwald, Tom Gaines, Makenzie Gibson, Kim Radochia, Ben Shattuck”
Suraci Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Laura Duerwald: STRATA”<
2016
Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells, ME, “Laura Duerwald, Billie Mandle, Shoshanna White”
ICON Contemporary, Brunswick, ME, “Laura Duerwald and Steven Alexander”
2015
Mahady Gallery, Scranton, PA, MFA Thesis Exhibition
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation of the Arts, New Berlin, NY, “Made in Paint”
Corey Daniels Gallery, Welles, ME, “All in August”
Tew Galleries, Atlanta, GA, “Salon Style 2023”
2022
Intersect Art and Design Fair, Palm Springs, CA, (Tew Galleries)
Corey Daniels Gallery, Welles, ME, “Summer Group”
Tew Galleries, Atlanta, GA, “Salon Style 2022”
2021
Prauper Studios, Houston, TX, “FHWL”
Corey Daniels Gallery, Welles, ME, “New Work from Gallery Artists”
Alfa Gallery, Miami, FL, “Surfing”
2020
Alfa Gallery, Miami, FL, “XS”
Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX, “In the Gallery”
Engine, Biddeford, ME, “Nano”
2019
Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX, “Chroma”
Alfa Gallery, Miami, FL, “3D”
Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells, ME, “Flux”; Flux II”; “Flux III”
Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ, “Somewhere We Landed”
New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA, “30th Annual International Invitational Salon of Small Works”
2018
Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY, “Beyond Black and White”, curated by Li Trincere and Henry Brown
Curator Gallery, New York, NY, “Celebrating Our Fifth Year”
New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA, “29th Annual International Invitational Salon of Small Works”
Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ, “Somewhere Over the Interconnected Rainbow & Prospero’s Grand St. Masque”
Mahady Gallery, Scranton, PA, 2018 Marywood University Art Faculty Biennial
2017
Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc., Houston, TX, “Summer Group Show”
Newport Contemporary Fine Arts, Newport, RI, “New and Emerging Artists”
Boecker Contemporary, Heidelberg, Germany (also travelled to Saarbruchen and Vielsam), “Black Box”, curated by Arvid Boecker
New Arts, Inc. Kutztown, PA, “28th International Invitational Salon of Small Works”
New Arts, Inc. Kutztown, PA, “28th International Invitational Salon of Small Works”
New Arts, Inc. Kutztown, PA, “28th International Invitational Salon of Small Works”
Knockdown Center, Maspeth, Queens, NY, “Nasty Women”
Waverly Small Works Gallery, Waverly, PA, “First Look” (inaugural invitational)
2016
Corridor Projects, Dayton, OH (travelled to Germany, the U.K., and locations throughout the United States), “Fiction v.2”, curated by Jeffrey Cortland Jones
2015
Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, New York, NY, “Small Works”, curated by Richard Timperio
ArtWorks Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Northeastern Biennial Twenty-Fifteen”, curated by Hal Bromm
Mahady Gallery, Scranton, PA, 2015 Marywood University Art Faculty Biennial
A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY, “Wish You Were Here 14”
Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, NY, “Postcards from the Edge”
AFA Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Small Works, Big Deal”
2014
Bowery Gallery, New York, NY, “23rd Annual Juried Show”, curated by David Cohen
A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY, “Wish You Were Here 13”
2013
Artworks Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Northeastern Biennial Twenty-Thirteen”
Mahady Gallery, Scranton, PA, “Northeastern Biennial Twenty-Thirteen”
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2015-2020
Marywood University, Scranton, PA, Instructor of Drawing and Painting
1990-1991
University of Texas, Austin, TX (Extension), Instructor of Drawing and Illustration
1991-1992
Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX, Instructor of Drawing and Illustration