Laurie  Shapiro is inspired by the  natural world and by patterns that repeat  in all things.  Many of her  drawings come from nature - her flowers are  inspired by the places she  has lived in and visited: succulents,  plants from California, "female"  imagined flowers, outer space  flowers.  She screen prints these drawn  images onto various fabrics and  then hand sews them as repetitive  elements onto mixed media  paintings.  Her work comes from within, ideas  pop out at her and she  tries her best to just go with them.  She sees  worlds of magic and  beauty in the trees and the flowers: a grounded and  mystical connection  she knows exists in all things and shares in her  pieces. 

Shapiro’s  large-scale, tapestry-like,  mixed-media pieces are sometimes viewed  from the wall and sometimes  walked inside of as full installations.   From afar, her pieces look like  paintings, but when viewed more  closely, one can see the hand-stitching  of her screen printed drawings  thus revealing their mixed-media  nature. 

Shapiro’s  holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University (2012), during  which she  spent a semester abroad at Bilkent University in Ankara,  Turkey (2011).  She currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

(Adjacent photo by Jeffrey Sklan.  Below photos by Pen Densham.)