Laura BaLoMbiNi

Creating has always been a part of my life. I found I could make a living with my endeavors as well as find a place of "centering" my energy and thoughts while in the studio. Once you realize you have some technical skills you move onto story and messaging. I was often encouraged in art classes to concentrate on a medium, process or theme. I jumped around..too excited to try other materials and know their possibilities. When I wasn't paying bills with weaving, jewelry or sculpture..I was discovering new materials and ways to combine them. Having been a "fine craft" artist most of my life moving into painting seemed very non-functional to me. It took me quite awhile to realize that when a painting or sculpture is acquired by a collector..that relationship is part of the creation..and the enjoyment achieved is a shared experience. Arts real function is this bridge. Creating in a void is hard for me. I want to see an audiences response. This desire can sometimes lead me to make art that might be more "safe" than I'd like. Finding ways to make a living as well as expressing a message using new materials is an artists lifework. I step into the studio always with the hope that I'll discover something new..and that someone may "see" and appreciate my journey enough to encourage me to create again and again.

I wrote my own flute solo in the school orchestra when I didn't "like" the one included in the score. Not everyone noticed so I was allowed to "improvise" a bit more going forward. I often found that what was taught or offered was not enough for me. Making art or music seemed to me to be a place where once you got the "gist" of things you then should be able to make your own way..after all..where did "original" art and music come from if not from the trials and explorations of someone who decided to expand on the knowledge they had already been given? I asked the high school art teacher if there was money for a potters wheel and clay. She loved calligraphy..I did not. We ordered what we could. The janitor gave me a closet to work in. In exchange I taught the football team who also did not find calligraphy enticing ..but needed a grade to stay on the team. I have always been searching for ways to make, do or say something in some form or another with out depending too much on my educational experiences. I loved clay and fiber Arts ( BFA ). I wrote and played folk music in festivals and bars to pay for school. I dove into motherhood and farming (commune style) and taught myself ( with the help of Amish neighbors) cheese making, chicken raising and taught the home schoolers kids " creative ways with recycled trash". I am not complete unless I am making something. I continue this course as I await a new studio in ABQ to make and teach.

2-D, 3-D, Assemblage, Collage/Mixed Media, Installation, Painting (all materials), Sculpture