Take in brand new exhibitions at The Art Studio, Inc. on the first Saturday of each month! Join us Saturday February 7th for the opening reception our first solo exhibition of 2026!
“Retrospective: 42 years at The Art Studio, Inc.“ by Sandra Laurette in the Main Gallery
The reception is free and open to the public from 7:00-10:00pm. Drinks and refreshments provided. The artist will be in attendance.
The artwork will be on view through Friday, February 27th during TASI’s regular gallery hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays, from noon until 5:00pm
I have always thought I was not very good at SERIES, a word much used in the Art World to describe how a body of work ends only with the exhaustion of all ideas. Most often this happens within one medium, but not always.
I have never considered my work could be a unified whole, until now!
I had planned to contemplate the work I have brought to this presentation, in hope of discovering how I might have arrived at this meaningful juncture. In preparation for this exhibition, I had hoped to discover exactly HOW I reached this point. In discussion with my most thoughtful critics, I have realized that each seemingly new direction is but a relatively obvious point of sculptural growth.
This all began when I met an instructor, new to Lamar University’s Art Department. I felt my Life’s Goal was to become a Great Potter. I soon learned creating sculpture was what my hands chose to do! This man, Meredith, called Butch, Jack gave an assignment that seemed simple enough. Draw, yes draw, a fond memory of your childhood. I elected to draw a summer vacation memory that revolved around a satiny bathing suit worn by my 7-year-old self.
No stranger to critiques, I was very surprised as Jack spoke of the voluptuous forms he saw in my large drawing. I was instructed to take that idea and run with it! Voluptuous tongues began to evolve.
I have organized the work from that point forward. A body of work began to erupt as I traveled by train from Beaumont to Phoenix via AMTRAK in the early 80’s. It was a full train with too many people in the passenger car. Much time was spent in the club car gazing out at an austere landscape, hour after hour. As we passed the beautiful dunes near El Paso, I began to notice the similarity of dunes to reclining figures. These musings drove a 15-year series of ceramic Figural Landscapes and, it turns out, fertilized the next 27 years.
Each adventure into the creation of artwork was about my desire to show others the wonders of this world as I see it. This hope has led to problems of many kinds.
I believe my job as a sculptor is to speak to viewers visually, now and in the future. I bring to the table all my seeing, learning and thinking. No two experiences in this world are the same, there are so many variables. But you, the Viewer, are the final arbiter.
What you see is the answer. If you do not see what I thought I said, it is up to me to correct MY expression, should I wish you understand what I have to say!
The underlying 42-year career of a Sculptor was, all in all, the most wonderful gift of my friends, Greg Busceme and Ange Schiebel, the duo responsible for my being able to call this wonderful creation the home of My Studio for all these years. I doubt this work could have been created without this wonderful GIFT to our Artful Community.
