Laura Lamey

Fissures and Faults

Artist Biography

Laura Lamey has been teaching high school for over 20 years in Riverview, NB and continually advocates for the arts in the school and community. She has recently recommitted to her own practice following a one year educational leave and the completion of the Advanced Studio Practice program through NBCCD. The momentum Laura has built in 2018 includes participation in several exhibitions and a Creation Grant form Arts NB.

Her background includes a B.A. in French literature and philosophy from St. F. X University, Foundation visual arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and B.Ed from University of British Columbia.

Lamey lives and explores the shoreline with her family, Rob and Quinlan, in Grand-Barachois, NB.

Artist Statement

The recent focus of my work is landscape-inspired abstraction. The process involves an interactive relationship between drawing and thinking. The cathartic physical act of mark making allows me to think productively; the drawings become a record of an inner dialogue. It’s sometimes as though I am writing without words.

Although there is visually a connection to the landscape, ambiguity persists in recent paintings, as shapes and forms fight the call to be defined. As with abstraction, to comfortably welcome ambiguity in our lives, leaves us open to possibility and potential. Our human capacity for understanding and acceptance is greater when we are able to place value on things we cannot measure or define with data. When we actively resist labels and definitions, we leave room for growth and novelty.

The metaphors of shoreline erosion and resistance are fitting inspiration for my work. Along the coast, relevant themes abound: fluctuation, formation, disruption, decay, renewal. Much like the land under the influence of natural forces, we are subject to character formation through our own relationships and experiences. At times we are shaped, and at times we resist. Fissures and faults on the most rugged surfaces expose a vulnerability that introduces the potential for change.

Just as these fissures and faults allow the elements to transform the landscape, when we are vulnerable, we are open to the experience of being changed. The fiercest of conditions, the most difficult of life’s challenges, have the capacity to transform. We continually adjust, respond, and repurpose, adapting to changing circumstances. However unsettling, the disruption shapes us.

Laura Lamey, 2018