Laura Menardi is a painter living and working in the Southwestern United States. She grew up in Ohio and received her BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Her work focuses on simplification of information. Revisiting and re framing autobiographical elements and experiences are key themes, along with the malleable nature of memory and the conflicting influences of her seventies girlhood.
Exhibitions
2024 Greenwood Art Retrospective, Greenwood Brewery, Phoenix, AZ, group
Sweet Tooth, The Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, AZ, group2023 Night Visions, The Phoenix Airport Museum, Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix, AZ, group
2022 Water Water Everywhere, Team Pravus, First Draft Book Bar, Phoenix, AZ, group
The Moleskine Project/ Harman Projects, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Mesa, AZ, group
1975, Greenwood Brewing, Phoenix, AZ, solo
Persistence IV, D’Art Center, Norfolk, VA, group
2019 Pequenos, Lulubell Gallery, Mesa, AZ group
2018 Motherland, The Hive, February 16-March 11, solo
BidUp!, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, group
Illustration West 56, Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, group
Phoenix: A Creative Oasis, Offices of Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, curated for Phoenix Institute of Contemporary Art by Ted Decker, group
2017 Imagine II: Art of the Children’s Book Exhibition, dA Center for the Arts, group
Annual Student Art Exhibition, Mesa Community College Art Gallery, juror Patty Haberman, Head Curator Mesa Arts Center Museum, group
2009 Southeast Regional Branch Library, Maricopa Library System, solo
2008 Festival Owl Exhibit, Keene State College, Keene, NH, groupGrants and Awards
Recipient, Ted Decker Catalyst Fund micro grant, 2018
Gold Award, Illustration West 56, Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, 2018
Best of Show, Annual Student Art Exhibition, Mesa Community College Art Gallery, juror Patty Haberman, Chief Curator, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Spring 2017Collections
The Mary Wong Collection, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
The Mazza Museum, University of Findlay, Findlay, OH
Festival Owl Project Collection, Keene State College, Keene, NH
Private CollectionsEducation
The Body, Art Digger Lab workshop with Catherine Kehoe, Jennifer Pochinski, Susan Litchman, 2023
Still Life x 3, Art Digger Lab workshop with Catherine Kehoe, Jennifer Pochinski, Susan Litchman, 2022
The Self Portrait from Observation, Workshop with Zoey Frank, 2021
Painting and Observation Three Approaches, Art Digger Lab workshop with Catherine Kehoe, Jennifer Pochinski, Susan Litchman, 2020
Continuing education, Mesa Community College, 1994-2017
SmART School Full Mentorship with Rebecca Leville Guay, 2016
Master of Fine Arts Program classes, Marywood University,1999-2000
B.F.A, Cum Laude, The Columbus College of Art and Design, 1990