ARTIST STATEMENT
Artist Alok Vaid-Menon said, “There’s something audacious and beautiful about insisting on maintaining your humor and delight.” For me, humor and delight are a direct result of my work as a fiber artist. I work primarily in handmade paper. I use my favorite properties of paper – the messy pleasure of making it, its ability to absorb color, its apparent fragility and its true strength – to convey these ideas.
I often work with multiple objects. Multiples highlight both changeability and commonality. As an artistic strategy, they offer an opportunity for experimentation within a structure, for stillness with many variations. As a visual strategy, they calm a busy eye. Other women are one of my strongest sources of humor, delight and support. I grew up with eight aunts, some of my favorites. These sculptures show my affection for these luminous women.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Laurie LeBreton is a sculptor whose primary medium is handmade paper and a wide variety of other materials – bike tires, textiles and aluminum cans, among them – to express her sense of humor and delight. She has exhibited widely, in the Chicago area, nationally and internationally, including solo exhibits at the Epiphany Art Center, Chicago, Illinois; the Quad Cities Airport, Moline, Iowa; the Orland Park Library, Orland Park, Illinois and the University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her most recent exhibition was a three-person show at Oliva Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
LeBreton received an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College, Chicago in 2010. She is an alumna of the Center Program at the Hyde Park Art Center.
© Laurie LeBreton