EDUCATION
2009 MFA, Yale University School of Art, Sculpture, New Haven, CT
2006 BFA, Cleveland Institute of Art, Painting, Cleveland, OH
RESIDENCIES
2020 The Deering Estate, Miami, FL
2018 Siena Art Institute, Siena, ITL
2016 Oolite Arts, Miami Beach, FL
2014 Zona Imaginaria, Buenos Aires, AR
2012 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
SOLO EXHIBITIONS + PROJECTS
2020 Deering Estate, Miami, FL
o Entwined, A series of 20 spheres and three large-scale tapestries based on the research of the historical medieval tapestries and textiles collected by Charles Deering throughout his lifetime. Often positioned in opposition to industrialization and modernity, textiles are an art form that is as much a product of form as it is function.
2018 Locust Projects, Miami, FL
o Lady Cave, Tactile Sanctuary, and Placemaking Paradise installed as a village of installations where viewers can take selfies and enter their thoughts about gentrification into an app while lying down. A Saturday video shoot will call upon artists to share their displaced narratives, and programming about sewing will playfully strengthen community dialogues.
2017 Young At Art Museum, Lady Cave Solo, Davie, FL o Lady Cave presents a wordplay on the phrase, man cave. Reflecting on the spatial concept of surrounding one's self with gendered signifiers, Lady Cave is an immersive, plush space. With a womb-like interior, the cave accommodates viewers to engage with props, snap selfies, and share conversation space. The sculptural environment serves as a site for decompression and wonderment, inclusive of gender. I taught students to install handmade sculptures as a larger narrative building exercise. o ArtCenter | South Florida, PlushSpace Solo, Miami Beach, FL
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 The Camp Gallery, Obscured Objects, Miami, FL
o Rockefeller Center, The Flag Project, New York, NY
o Spring Break/Art Show, In Excess, Directed Art Modern, New York, NY
2019 The Directed Art Modern, 8 Women Pulling it Together, Miami, FL
o Mana Contemporary, Colabo Exhibition, Miami, FL
o Girl’s Club, Ft Lauderdale, FL 2018 The Frank Art Gallery, Prizm, Pembrook Pines, FL
o Mana Contemporary, Culturecast, Miami, FL
o Bridge Red Studios, Miami, FL 2017 Dimensions Variable, A Thread of Execution, Miami, FL
o Whitney Biennial, Debtfair, New York, NY
o Bailey Contemporary Arts, Gritty In Pink, Pompano Beach, FL o Design Sublime, More Women Painting, Miami, FL
o ArtCenter | South Florida, Flooded Sanctuaries, Miami Beach, FL
o The Institute Library, Nasty Women Exhibition, New Haven, CT
o Ely Center of Contemporary Art, Broad Stripes and Bright Stars, CT
2016 Field Projects, Show #28, New York, NY
o First Street Gallery, Artists Choose Artists, New York,NY
o Ridgefield Guild of Artists, By A Thread, Ridgefield, CT
o Corsiar Apartments, Permanent Collection, New Haven, CT
o Eastern Connecticut State University, ArtSpace Windham, Embodied Narratives, CT
2015 Printed Matter, Cosigned Body Duel Book, New York, NY 2014 Fred Giampietro Gallery, Self-Absorbed, New Haven, CT
o John Slade Ely House, Doll Like Exhibition, New Haven, CT 2014 Dixon Place, Fabrications, New York, NY
2013 Swimsuit Factory, Fem//me: Curated by Selby Nimrod, New Haven, CT
o Art Lot, Curious Remains, Brooklyn, NY
o The Institute Library, Head, Curated by Jeff Ostergren, New Haven, CT
Service
2017 Broward Art in Public Spaces Committee Member, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
o Guest Juror for the Space Coast Fair, Cape Canaveral, FL 2016 Curatorial Advisory Board Member, Artspace, New Haven, CT
o Jurying Artspace’s 3-4 annual open calls. o Connecting Artspace to artists, organizations and individuals who might be interested in exhibitions, special events, and opportunities. o Brainstorming ideas for future projects, collaborations, or initiatives.
o Representing Artspace on a daily basis as an honorary board member.
2015 Panelist for the Annual Arts Council Awards, New Haven, CT
o Reviewed recommendations from community members on the behalf of local artists, businesses, programs, and venues 2014 Spoke about art and critical practice to residents at Zona Imaginaria in Buenos Aires, Argentina
o Served as a panelist and guest curator for an annual Speed Networking event, Artspace, New Haven
My mother sewed my clothes, my sibling's clothes, and we recycled as a humble family. She learned to sew in Home Economics, a high school course whose origins came out of the Women's Laboratory at MIT beginning in the 19th Century. I felt odd growing up wearing asymmetrical handmade clothes, yet as society continues to become more materialistic and consumer-focused, individual expression becomes constricted and rarefied. The concept of mending and repair becomes obsolete for the new and updated.
As an installation artist , my studio is a relational and plush environment. My work is accessible, funky, quirky, and celebrates the individuality of the viewer by inviting tactile sensations and active participation. Installations encourage viewers to confront their own image, take selfies, wear costumes, touch materials, and reflect upon texts and soundtracks. My texts and audio-visuals talk about class, averting crises, and encourage practitioners not to work for free.
I produce tactile installations as safe spaces for discussions and material exchanges. I embroider ten flags and weavings annually, reflecting upon societal and political concepts that I explore organically in the material process. Texts speak about wanting a more inclusive society that speaks about class issues and mobility. I combine fabric sourced from working-class neighborhoods, places where I meet Cuban and Haitian mothers, quirky business owners who buy from eccentric wholesalers, and other artists. My interest in the power of textiles originates from my working-class roots and it
manifests in the economic realities that I face as a practicing artist.
As an artist, I've encountered contradictions in mobility while working to support my practices alongside the cost of living. My installations and objects hold space for viewers and mediate conversations about class and mobility through tactile experiences. Talking about class in my work acknowledges that the market is imbalanced and that money is a difficult subject to speak about culturally and institutionally.
My expanded creative practice as researcher and curator provides opportunities for other artists. I work with institutions to activate unused spaces, curate relevant thematic exhibitions, and support the production of installations. I help fundraise to pay artists, and I lecture about how working for free devalues one's own practice as well as our greater collective practice. When I've had opportunities to travel, I go to the domestic fabric store a few streets away from the Duomo and buy a used Necchi sewing machine from a family business. These experiences with individuals stimulate community mindfulness. Like the weft of a weaving, (the cross threads that form a cohesive cloth) my mission supports conscientious community building and safe spaces to engage.
PROFESSIONAL PROFILES
COMMERCE
PUBLICATIONS
Galerie Magazine
Wallpaper Magazine
RESIDENCIES
OoliteArts
Siena Art Institute
BIO
Laura Marsh is a textile artist with a social practice. Her spheres, flags, and installations contain social mottos and humanitarian texts. From two generations of women who sew, Marsh practices a do-it-yourself approach that is accessible and hands-on. Her desire to define spaces that are place makers for others express the need for more fluid conversations about feminism, gender, and class issues. Marsh regards her practice as multilayered and transformative and it is often participatory. She supports the activation of uncommon sites. Marsh received her MFA from Yale University School of Art and a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Marsh has exhibited nationally at venues including Dimensions Variable, Miami, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Printed Matter, Field Projects, Newman Popiashvili Gallery, and Tilton Gallery in NY. She is a current artist in residence at Mana Contemporary and the Director of Programming at Oolite Arts.
