Charlotte, Fayetteville, France, and New York: what do these four places have in common? Artist Laura Loving has called each one home.

When Laura Loving was 5 her family moved from North Carolina to Fayette County. She attended Fayette Elementary, Fayette Jr. High and Fayette County High School. Now she lives on the Upper West side of Manhattan in a studio filled with her artwork.

Like many little girls, Laura dreamed that she would grow up to be an artist. From kindergarten on she listed painting as one of her favorite things to do. Her romantic notions of becoming a famous artist deepened when she attended a creative arts camp at McIntosh High School the summer before 9th grade.

Once in high school her passion became more guided and focused with the help of Fayette County High’s art teacher Melanie Mickelboro. “All through high school Mrs. Mickelboro really encouraged and guided me. She is great at inspiring her students and showing them all the opportunities available to artists,” said Loving.

Her senior year in high school Mrs. Mickelboro entered Laura into the running for the “Gold Key” award at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). At that time, however, SCAD was not the elite art school it is today. Rather than pursuing that particular path Laura opted to attend the University of Georgia in Athens instead. “I am not what some people would call a stereotypical artist type. I am a very social person and the size of UGA really appealed to me," explained Loving. "I wanted to interact with a diverse group of people, not just other artists.” Today SCAD is an excellent resource for the graduating students, she says.

Laura graduated from UGA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She studied fabric design and minored in painting. She decided that if painting as a full time profession didn’t work out for her, she would be able to fall back on her fabric design degree.

After graduation Laura went to New York City to interview for several fabric design positions including one at Calvin Klein and one at Liz Claiborne where she was offered a tentative position. At 21 and fresh out of college, Laura was too intimidated by the city to make it her home. Combine that with the knowledge that her pay would be primarily in the form of experience rather than money, and Laura was headed back to Atlanta.

Once back in Georgia, she took a position with a French company, Equant. She had great benefits with her new job, which allowed her to travel all over the US. She was also able to relay that job into a position in the south of France with the same company. This gave Laura the opportunity to work and pursue her art simultaneously. While in France, she lived outside of Nice in Cagnes sur Mer (Cannes by the sea). An architect and gallery owner, Stephane Duratz, helped Laura launch her painting career in France. Her work was displayed in his gallery, Chaleurs du Sud, which translates “Heat from the South.” A coincidental name given Laura’s southern heritage.

For three years Laura lived in France, working and traveling all over Europe. Once she had accomplished all the items on her list, Laura chose not to renew her contract with the company in France and came back to the United States.

Equant was expanding their business into New York City and Laura managed to attain a job in the city that had intimidated her years before. While working for Equant in New York, Laura also began building a base of customers for her painting. After slowly exhibiting and selling her prints for over 10 years, she had finally expanded her business enough to be a full time professional artist. This time came two years ago and she refers to it as “operation freedom.”

Now Laura lives and works in a studio on the Upper West side of New York City, “I love New York, but I really miss the South in January and February especially.” Laura tries to escape the cold weather by finding excuses to visit her parents back in Fayetteville as much as possible during the winter months.

Laura spends three to four days a week painting and the rest of her time is spent on the business end of things, promoting her work, talking to people about displaying her art, and meeting with clients. “I like to meet with my clients as much as possible," she said. "Art is a very personal thing and meeting with clients helps them understand my paintings better and creates a personal connection with me as well as with the art.”

“Lady Liberty” is Laura’s favorite piece she has created. “She is a great representation of America and an iconic image of the U.S. and what we stand for,” explained the artist. Plus lady liberty is from France which holds special meaning to Laura. “She is a tall beautiful woman that lives in New York like me,” Laura laughs. She still owns the original piece and has sold many prints of it. She has been hired on numerous occasions to paint variations of the print. She says she would like to sell the original to the children’s museum in New York, although she has not approached them about it yet.

Laura has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the United States and abroad. In New York, she has shown at Lincoln Center’s Cork Gallery, the Pratt Institute, Taller Boricua Galleries and in May she exhibited her work at Anthem Gallery in Soho. In Atlanta, she was commissioned to create an outdoor mural in Centennial Olympic Park and the official serigraph for the 1998 Music Midtown Festival.

Laura recently attended ArtExpo Atlanta, a major trade show for the art community. It was Laura’s first trade show experience and she found it to be an extremely valuable experience. She was able to make contact with many southeastern galleries and she hopes it will lead to more business from the region that has always supported her. “I couldn’t be the success I am today without the patrons from Georgia,” she is quick to point out.

This fall, Laura’s artwork is being featured at a concert series in New York City at Lincoln Center’s new Jazz venue in Columbus Circle, “Jazz at Lincoln Center.” Her art will be featured on awnings and bus stops throughout the city as well as in pamphlets and in an ad in “The New York Times.”

Laura has certainly come a long way from wistful hopes of becoming an artist. her dreams have become a reality. For local artists Laura has some words of advice: “If you are an artist, people have to see your work. Share your art with as many people as possible. Don’t be afraid to try new things whether it be a library exhibit or a competition of some sort. Anything you can do to get your artwork out to others is the best way to be able to do it full time.”

Laura is participating in an art fair in Washington, Georgia on November 4 and 5, 2005. For more information on Laura Loving and to view more of her artwork visit www.LauraLoving.com.

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