Laurel DeFreece

Laurel DeFreece
Plattsburg, Missouri, USA

STATEMENT

My inspiration comes from the native prairie where I live. This can be seen in my newest body of work containing my handmade paper. I call the collection, “Natural Elements”.

Trained as a graphic designer in the 1980s, attending Missouri Western State University with an emphasis on printmaking, painting and photography, I continued my education in paper making and encaustic at Arrowmont School of Arts and Joy Studio.

In 2018, I created a new body of work containing elements from our prairie in my handmade paper, heading into a bold new direction using native grasses and fibers, sticks and other found objects. With these materials, I have made natural paper for prints, collages, 3-D pieces, structures and encaustics with natural beeswax. My work as a whole explores my fascination with the prairie biome that surrounds my
rural home in Plattsburg, Missouri. “Natural Element” shows how beautiful, as well as fragile, nature and our planet are, yet how strong even a piece of paper can be.

BIO

Laurel DeFreece can’t imagine making art that doesn’t include nature. Her inspiration comes from the prairie biome that surrounds her rural home in Plattsburg, Missouri. Her work captures how beautiful, as well as fragile, nature and our planet are, yet how strong even a piece of paper can be. Trained as a graphic designer in the 1980s, she attended Missouri Western State University with an emphasis in printmaking, painting and photography. She continued her education in papermaking and encaustic, educated at Arrowmont School of Arts and Studio Joy. Her most recent bodies of work, “Natural Elements” and “Fate”, head into a bold new direction using native grasses, fiber, sticks, and other found objects. With these materials, Laurel makes natural handmade paper for prints, collages, and 3-D structures, which include encaustic. “Natural Elements” was the subject of Laurel’s 2019 solo exhibition at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, Missouri. “Fate”, a collaboration exhibit with artist Robin VanHoozer, was the subject for an exhibit at Missouri Western State University which opened January of 2022.

ARTIST CONTACT

(816) 225-8988
[click to email]
laurelsartstudio.com

IMAGES