ABOUT LAURA WOOTEN

Through a close observation of the natural world, with layers of memory and invention, I create artwork that values our human connection to the landscape.

My current work reflects my interest in painting the landscape of my daily experience: the fields and meadows of central Virginia, views to the distant Blue Ridge Mountains from my hilltop neighborhood, and the way trees mark the passing of time in my own backyard. My paintings explore the places they represent, as well as the inner landscape of my experience and how it might be shared. Color, shape, and mark fall in service to the perception of an emotional presence in the land that is both highly personal and universally human. The landscape painting becomes a mirror into our own histories, reveries, and associations.

I earned my undergraduate degree in Art and Architecture at the University of Virginia and continued on at UVA as an Aunspaugh Post-Baccalaureate Fellow in Studio Art before earning my MFA from American University. During graduate school, I attended a summer program in Perugia, Italy, at the Accademia de Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci, where the panoramic Mediterranean landscape took hold of my imagination. My landscape paintings have been exhibited across the East Coast, including juried exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, Delaware, the Bowery Gallery in New York City and the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Boston. Recent solo exhibitions in Charlottesville include “Spirit of Place: Landscapes Real & Imagined” at Chroma Projects in 2019 and “View from the Ridge” at Second Street Gallery in 2020/21.

I’m an artist, a mom, and a co-owner of Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar in Charlottesville, Virginia with my husband and two dear friends. Our travels throughout the Mediterranean have cultivated an on-going passion for the food, wine, landscapes, and culture of this region. Whether I am cooking for my family with local produce at home, or sharing a special meal while traveling abroad, I cherish the connections between landscape, culture, and family that shape our food traditions, our sense of place, and our feelings of belonging.

My collection of Mediterranean landscape paintings is currently on display at Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar in Charlottesville, VA.

Portraits by Stacey Evans Photography

Listen in on my conversation with Coach Tammie Bennett on The Show Up Society Podcast!

We talk about getting over perfectionism, the value of play and curiosity, new ways to measure growth and progress, taking control of your time, becoming your own expert, creating momentum through daily painting, powerful questions to ask ourselves, and developing a sense of self love and self trust.

Portrait by Derrick Waller