Laurel Shute

My painting and printmaking, and earlier outdoor sculptures, and collaborative artworks all have an animated quality inspired by light and color in natural environments.  Some of the symbolic titles of my works suggest moments of communion with nature: Faces of Water, Moods of the Land and Sky, Outside is Radiant, Sun Sensory, Eyes of the Forest, and The Moon is Here. I work with a sense of wonderment about the meaning of color that appears in the Earth’s atmosphere, aka, tropospheric (a scientific term for where we live on Earth.) Thinking about the troposphere reminds me just how amazing is our colorful environment.  Everyone has experienced a sunset when the drama of colors influences our emotions.

Color and sunlight in the troposphere are the source of my intuitive art exploration. In my painting process, I’m inquiring into what it is that I can observe and perceive in regards to my relationship to color and space in nature.  

The painting exhibitions I participated in during 2023 and 2024 are various group exhibitions evolved out of communities of artists in dialogue with one another.  

• MFA Painting, Graduate Fellowship, CW Post, LIU, Brookville, NY
• BFA Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, LA, CA
• Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Art, Fine Art, Richmond, VA

I strive to engage people of all ages in experiencing inner creativity and developing art skills and discovering materials in drawing, collage, sculpture, printmaking, and painting.  I teaching art to youth, teens, and adult workshops, my specialization is in painting and printmaking.  Often I teach through art centers, museums, and community colleges.  I have a background as a teaching artist for museum education programs in NYC schools.   I have recently enjoyed teaching at Garrison Art Center, Peekskill Center for the Digital Arts, Croton Recreation, and the Brooklyn Museum.