Laura Charlton
Laura Charlton is a painter and printmaker based in southwest Florida. After receiving a BFA in fine arts and German Literature from UNC-CH, Laura has held many roles in the art world. Her prints capture a dance between light and dark though a layered silkscreen method, creating fluid and intricate compositions. Taking an intuitive approach, Laura’s work evolves through every mark and repetition. In this interview, she speaks more on her creative process and journey as an artist.
How did your creative journey begin?
I could say that it began when I was a child, but I think all children are born as natural creators. The real journey begins later in life, when one is faced with the harshness of the world and the choice of whether or not to fight for the inner life, the creative spark. For me, the creative journey began in my early 20s in 2007 when I attended a year-long seminar at an anthroposophical painting school (the NeueKUNSTschule). That was the first conscious step I took on this path.
My journey towards becoming an artist has been a strange and meandering one, involving lots of doubling back, changing directions, and often getting lost. I spent the years from 2010-2020 living in NYC, working at low paying jobs in the art world and struggling to keep my own creative practice alive. I really wanted to "make it" as an artist there (whatever that means!), but it wasn't until I left New York in the summer of 2020 and let go of the idea I had held for so long of what an art career was supposed to look like that I finally felt free to move forward with my creative work in a more authentic way. I also had to make a commitment to myself to stop sabotaging and undermining my own efforts out of fear and doubt.
A second phase of my creative journey has begun this year, a phase in which I've transitioned to being a full time artist, running my own studio as a small business. This was always my dream, but I never had the confidence to do it in the past. The years from 2007 to 2021 were more of an inner journey - convincing myself that it was possible for me to be an artist, gathering skills and knowledge, and building up the courage to do it. Of course I did some residencies and showed my work during these years, but I didn't really believe in myself yet or see the value of what I was creating. This journey is an ongoing and never ending process of challenge and growth!
What inspires your work?
My work is inspired by the space between things, transitional states, corners, shadows, liminal spaces, and the way that light shines on and through things. I'm attracted to materials and subject matter that some might consider to be ordinary, boring, ugly or even abject. I think a lot of artists are drawn to these types of things for some reason. Old cardboard boxes, styrofoam blocks, advertisements, screenshots from bad movies, sun bleached bones, dusty corners, peeling paint. It's not exactly the things themselves that inspire me, it's more the feeling that I get when I look at them and imagine them becoming transparent, in light and shadow, or filled with color, part of something new. The feeling is what I'm always after in my work.
Can you describe your process?
My process mostly revolves around gathering, deconstructing, and reorganizing. I like to define a structure within which to improvise, a set of constants to give direction and meaning to my intuitive process. For me this usually means working with a set of shapes, for example 3 different triangles cut from one picture of a shadowy corner, or a single piece of cardboard, and then creating many different images from this set of shapes by printing them over and over again in layers, in different positions, and with varying levels of transparency, color, and so on.
Most of my training in art school was in traditional drawing and painting, but I find myself naturally drawn to printmaking, collage and photo processes. These processes allow me to work directly with found objects and images, taking them apart and rebuilding them according to my own vision. I sample and remix bits and pieces of material and information to create new forms through iteration and the play between creative polarities like light/dark, transparent/opaque, inside/outside. I have several different bodies of work, but this process is a common theme in almost all of them.
How has your work evolved over time?
My work has become clearer and more focused over the years, but still has a long way to go in its development in terms of what I want it to be. I think (hope) that all the different streams of my investigation are slowly converging into one central theme. I can also see that my work has improved dramatically in terms of craftsmanship over the last 15 years. This is a direct result of my time in NYC working as a fine art edition printer and conservation framer, and I am grateful for the training, education and discipline I acquired from those jobs.
What does a typical creative day look like for you?
I usually get up fairly early and take some quiet time in the morning to drink tea or coffee and get oriented to the day ahead. My dog makes sure I'm out of bed by 6:30 am whether I like it or not! I live close to nature in rural south Florida, so I have to work with and around the weather to some extent. My studio is in an airplane hangar, uninsulated and with giant doors that open to the east and west on each end. If the weather is clear and still, I take the opportunity to photograph works on paper outside in natural light. If it's brutally hot and humid, I retreat to my air conditioned office to do admin work during the day, and then head to the studio to print and paint after the sun goes down.
It's rare that I ever spend an entire day in the studio creating. Most days are a mix of chores, studio time, computer work, farm work (mowing, fence clearing, gardening), education (I'm currently taking an online course to learn more about marketing and small business management), planning, researching and organizing. No matter what happens each day, I always take a long walk around the farm with my dog Sparkles in the evening before dinner. This walk is the best part of the day, a time when I feel clear and calm and get inspired with new ideas, either from interesting things I see along the walk or just from the act of walking itself.
Do you have any words of wisdom for other artists and creatives?
Go straight towards what you truly want in your life, even if the road ahead seems long, terrifying, impossible, and requires you to carve your own path through the wilderness. Don't waste your precious time on earth aiming for watered down or "safe" versions of whatever it is that your heart longs for. I say this as someone who has spent many years living a shadow of the life I really wanted, and I wish someone had given me this advice and encouraged me to follow it, especially when I was first starting out as an artist.
