Laura McManus: North Shore Studio’s Artist of the Month

Laura McManus is one of a small handful of artists who’ve been part of The Arts of Life North Shore studio since the beginning. She joined us in July of 2010, just six months after we opened our studio on Johns Drive in Glenview.  Her presence has been vital in shaping our culture and community.  Laura’s individual creative practice has been both fertile and fallow at times, with bursts of energy and excitement followed by periods of contemplating and honing.  The past several months are a recent example of Laura’s practice in transition. She began using a tabletop easel to position her pieces vertically, instead of her usual approach of laying work flat. That simple change ushered in a new era for Laura, allowing her to use familiar approaches in a new way, thereby communicating new ideas. Laura’s previous work was often chaotic, with layers of various mediums and mark making methods in an intense jumble of color and texture. Laura’s most recent work can be seen, by contrast, as more ordered and calm.   We are pleased to have Laura McManus as the North Shore studio’s Artist of the Month. Her historical contributions to our studio and her recent leaps forward in her individual creative practice make her a vibrant, essential part of our community. Evidence of Laura’s evolution as an artist can be seen in her Artist of the Month exhibition in our Café Gallery. The Curatorial Committee selected both new and old works to reflect Laura’s changing aesthetic. When asked how the pieces in the exhibition were selected from Laura’s large back catalog, Curitorial Commitee member Amanda Gantner credited their color use, the shapes developed within each piece and the amount of time/effort that clearly went into them. “Laura is kind and takes her time,” said Gantner.   Congratulations to Laura McManus for earning the distinction of North Shore Studio’s Artist of the Month for December 2017. To see more of Laura’s work, check out the gallery below, her ARTIST PAGE, and her newly updated ARTIST STATEMENT VIDEO.