About Laura Beard

Sanctuary

Laura Beard is a portrait artist, living and working in Ewing, New Jersey. She is an accomplished portrait artist and her works have been featured at the John James Audubon Center in Audubon, Pennsylvania, the Arts Council of Princeton, and the D&R Greenway Land Trust in Princeton. When not working on animal portraits, she creates human portraits and commissioned portraits of pets, humans, and architecture across the United States.

Laura Beard is an active member of the central New Jersey arts community and has been in many group shows in the region. She is an active member of Artworks Trenton, the Arts Council of Princeton, and the Garden State Watercolor Society.

Artist Statement

Laura Beard is an accomplished visual artist living and working in Ewing, New Jersey. Her artwork is portrayed in a photorealistic style and spans a variety of mediums including pencil, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, oil. She frequently explores new mediums and embraces challenges in her pieces.

Laura has a deep fascination with birds and animals and the majority of her works center around them. She strives to capture the individual’s uniqueness and the unflinching beauty of temporary existence. When not working on animal portraits, she creates human portraits and occasional architecture pieces. She also creates commissioned portraits of pets, humans, and architecture for her clients across the United States.

Laura’s art has been juried into shows at the John James Audubon Center in Audubon, PA, D&R Greenway in Princeton, NJ, Garden State Watercolor Society, Belmar Art Center, Monmouth Museum, and Artworks Trenton and has been displayed in many shows and galleries in the Tri-State area.

 

 

New Brunswick Art Salon 2022 – Watercolor and Mixed Media “After the Charm: In the Name of Autumn” Exhibition


New Brunswick Art Salon 2022 —Oil and Mixed Media: “Beyond the Brush: The Contemporary Imagination”

Education

  • Orange Door Studio
  • Westerly Learning Center
  • Arts Council of Princeton

Teaching Experience

  • Elementary Art Education, Grades 1-4, Sprout U School of the Arts, Trenton, NJ, Sep 2019 – Jan 2020
  • Beginning Drawing and Painting, That Pottery Place, West Windsor, NJ, March 2017-July 2018
  • Elementary Art Education, Grades K-5, Homeschool Support Network, Lawrenceville, NJ, September 2012-June 2014

Professional accomplishments

Juried Shows

  • “Ellarslie Open 39”, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ – June 25 – October 2, 2022
  • “Beyond the Brush: The Contemporary Imagination”, Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ – April 26 – August 28, 2022
  • Garden State Watercolor Society Signature and Associate Members Virtual Exhibition – March 17 – , 2021 – “Living History” and “Eeenie, Meenie, Minee, Mo” – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50Uvb4yl9ieUg_XIXaD3YQ
  • John James Audubon “Drawn From Nature”, 13th Annual Juried Show, Audubon, Pennsylvania-April 13-April 27th, 2019 – “Hum” and “Sanctuary”
  • 1719 William Trent House “300 Years of Trenton History” Juried Show, Trenton, NJ- November 12-January 12th, 2019 – “Resolve”
  • D&R Greenway Land Trust “Lovely as a Tree” Annual Juried Show, Princeton, NJ- November 19-January 25th, 2019 – “Sanctuary”
  • John James Audubon “Drawn From Nature”, 12th Annual Juried Show, Audubon, Pennsylvania-April 14th-28th, 2018 – “Four and Twenty”
  • D&R Greenway Land Trust “Feather and Flight” Annual Juried Show, Princeton, NJ- December 4-February 9, 2018 – “Four and Twenty”
  • Garden State Watercolor Society Signature and Associate Member’s Exhibition, Middletown Arts Center, Middletown, NJ- November 6- January 7, 2018 – “Bufflehead Duck” – winner of the “Associate Members Award of Excellence in Watercolor”.
  • Belmar Arts Bird Art Juried Show, Belmar, NJ- July 12-August 4, 2017 – “Paramour” and “Diaphanous Wings”
  • John James Audubon “Drawn From Nature”, 11th Annual Juried Show, Audubon, Pennsylvania-April 7-April 23, 2017 – “Paramour” and “Northern Spotted Owl”
  • New Jersey Audubon Plainsboro Preserve “Wild New Jersey”, 3rd Annual Juried Art Show, Plainsboro, NJ- April 2-May 2, 2016 “Corn Snake”, “Prothonotary Warbler”, “Baby White-Tailed Deer”, “Bobcat”, and “Red Fox”
  • D&R Greenway Land Trust “Earth/Fire”, Annual Juried Show, Princeton, NJ- November 16- January 22, 2016 – “Cry” – purchased and in private collection

Solo Shows

  • Sumo Sushi, Pennington, NJ – Feb 12th, 2021 – March 30th, 2022
  • Ewing Township Municipal Building, Ewing, NJ – September 1-30th, 2019
  • Hopewell Valley Vineyards, Pennington, NJ – July 1-27th, 2019
  • Sumo Sushi, Pennington, NJ – March 1-March 30th, 2019
  • Trenton Social, Trenton, NJ – October 5-November 1st, 2018
  • Base Camp Trenton, Trenton, NJ – August 3-30th, 2018
  • Sumo Sushi, Pennington, NJ – May 1-June 10th, 2018

Select Group Shows

  • “Spring Into Art”, Straube Center Gallery, Pennington NJ – April 22nd
  • Collaborative show with Luna Sconty, Straube Center Gallery, Pennington, NJ – September 25 – Feb 10th, 2022
  • Annual Membership show, Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ – December 4 – 21st, 2021
  • “10×10 Red Dot Fundraiser”, Artworks Trenton, NJ – December 2021
  • “Quarantine In Isolation”, Artworks Trenton, NJ– May 2020
  • “10×10 Red Dot Fundraiser”, Artworks Trenton, NJ – December 2020
  • “The Way We Live”, Base Camp Trenton, Trenton, NJ – October 4 – 31st, 2019
  • “Wild!”, Ewing Township Municipal Building, Ewing, NJ – October 1 – 31st, 2019
  • “Midsummer Menagerie”, Staube Center Gallery, Pennington, NJ – July 26 – October 13th, 2019
  • “Legacy of Loss”, Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ – June 21 – July 13th, 2019
  • “All In The Family”, Artworks Trenton, Trenton, NJ – May 1 – June 1st, 2019
  • Prindiville Moher Gallery “Small Works Show”, Hopewell Valley Vineyards, Hopewell, NJ – January 10 – February 3rd, 2019
  • “Members Exhibition and 10×10 Red Dot Fundraiser”, Artworks Trenton, Trenton, NJ – December 8 – January 5th, 2019
  • “The Collaborators”, BSB Gallery, Trenton, NJ – November 3, 2018-January 2nd, 2019
  • “Out of the Ashes-Slice of Art”, Hopewell Valley Vineyards, Hopewell, NJ – September 9th, 2018
  • “Mix Tape”, Visual Stream Gallery, Lambertville, NJ – August 25-26th, 2018 – (“Karma’s Chameleon” and “Caribbean Queen” sold in this show)
  • Art All Night, Artworks Trenton, Trenton, NJ – June 16-17th, 2018
  • “The Birds”, LITM, Jersey City, NJ – May 8-June 4th, 2018
  • My paintings and drawings have also been shown in group shows at the Arts Council of Princeton, West Windsor Arts Council, Artworks Trenton, and the Monmouth Museum, as well as many locations in Central New Jersey. I have been in group shows with the Garden State Watercolor Society, Artworks Trenton, Prindiville Moher Gallery, Visual Stream Gallery, ArtJam, and the Creative Collective.

Public Installations

  • “TRANSITional Art Project” New Jersey Transit, Trenton NJ, 2021

Press/Articles

  • The Times of Trenton, Friday, July 26th, 2019, page G9, “Creatures are featured at ‘Midsummer Menagerie’ exhibit in Pennington”, Janet Purcell. Link to the article here: https://www.nj.com/times/2019/07/fine-arts-the-straube-center-offers-art-enthusiasts-a-midsummer- menagerie.html
  • The Times of Trenton, March 31, 2021, “Fine Arts: Garden State Watercolor Society Members Exhibition is an online event this year”, Janet Purcell. Link to the article here: https://www.nj.com/times/2021/03/fine-arts-garden-state-watercolor-society-members-exhibition-is- an-online-event-this-year.html?fbclid=IwAR2bue-wPG8N5GiEVHkrokG41SsKt6-YLGNU4vHv2pVn2S0heM8Ax-frnCk

Artist Interview