Biography
Born during a blizzard in 1950, Laura Ross-Paul spent much of her childhood gazing in wonder at the natural environment, or drawing and painting expressions of it and the intriguing people inhabiting it. She became the first in her family to attend college when her high school bundled up scholarships to send her, largely as a thank you for her yearbook illustrations. Laura's illustrations helped win the school a major national yearbook award.
Attending college in the late 1960's plunged Laura into the Viet Nam anti-war movement and Laura risked losing those precious scholarships when she anonymously illustrated a campus wide weekly newspaper opposed to the war. The success of the paper’s reach brought a revelation to Laura about the effectiveness of visual communication. After three years in a pre-nursing program, Laura switched into art, allowing her to become immersed in studio classes and subsequently landing a spot in Portland State’s newly created MFA program.
Even before graduation, Laura broke two glass ceilings. The first being when Laura’s thesis professor died and she was hired to teach his classes while the university conducted a search, making her one of PSU’s first ever women to teach an upper division studio class. This teaching launch led to a twenty-five year teaching career as an Associate Professor specializing in Figure Painting and Drawing at Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Marylhurst University, Pacific Northwest College of Art and Lewis and Clark College as well as PSU.
The second glass ceiling was broken by joining Arlene Schnitzer’s prestigious Fountain Gallery only a few weeks after graduation, making Laura the only female PSU teacher to be represented by the gallery and the first among Laura’s artist peers to get gallery representation.
Laura has continued to be a gallery represented artist through present day, staying with Schnitzer until she closed the gallery in the late eighties, then joining the newly formed Elizabeth Leach gallery, and finally moving to Charles Froelick and Shannon Aldelhart's gallery when they opened in Portland in the late 90’s. Laura continues to be presented by the now Froelick gallery in Portland. In Seattle she’s been represented by Francine Sedars, Grover Thurston, and Pacini Lubel Gallery until it closed in 2006. In California, representation has been Jenkins Johnson in San Francisco, Jo Ann Artman in Laguna Beach and, currently, Brian Marki in Palm Springs.
Immediately out of grad school Laura became an Art Community activist, becoming a co-founder of the Northwest Artist Workshop, and serving on the boards and steering and executive committees of the PSU Alumni Association, Oregon College of Arts and Crafts (now OCAC), the prestigious and now legendary Portland Center for the Visual Arts (PCVA), ART/NET, Arts Plan 2000+ and finally serving as a Metropolitan Arts Commissioner (now RACC). This volunteerism slowed down when Laura and her husband had their third child.
Laura has long been known as a figurative artist whose mystical backgrounds link the figure to their environments in psychologically compelling ways and resulting in many museum and art center exhibits. Some highlights have been when curator John Weber recognized the innovation and maturity of Laura’s watercolor work on unsized mulberry paper and awarded her a one woman Northwest Viewpoints exhibit at the Portland Art Museum in 1988. Other highlights include Curators Terri Hopkins and Paul Sutenin’s early 1981-1990 retrospective, “A Decade of Painting” at Marylhurst College’s “Art Gym”; and curator Jessica Hunter-Larsen’s exhibit in 2007, “Laura Ross-Paul: The Allusive Self” at the Coburn Gallery, Colorado College, Colorado Springs. These and other exhibits have given curators and arts writers opportunities to write about her paintings, affirming her unique visual language.
Now retired from teaching, Laura is concentrating on her studio practice. While always incorporating new, innovative ways to use artist materials to enhance both the interpretive look and visual read of her work, she is especially enjoying her recent breakthroughs of archivally combining her two painting medium loves, watercolor and oil.
Laura and her writer husband Alex, have work-spaces in their Portland home and Manzanita beach cabin where she spends time in both nature and in her studio, where she paints nearly every day.
Resume
Education
1978 B.S. Arts—Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
1976 M.F.A. Painting—Portland State University, Portland, Oregon 1974 B.F.A. Painting—Fort Wright College, Spokane, Washington 1972-74 Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
1968-70 Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Solo Exhibitions
2018 Everyday Heroes, Multnomah Athletic Club, Portland, OR 2018 Natural Forces, Laura Ross-Paul, Brian Marki Gallery, Palm Springs, CA 2017 Laura Ross-Paul, Brian Marki Gallery, Palm Springs, CA 2016 Laura Ross-Paul, Brian Marki Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
2015 Laura Ross-Paul, Brian Marki Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
2015 Waterfalls, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
2014 Urban Forest, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
2012 Connect, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
History Lessons, Helzer Gallery, Portland Community College, Portland, OR
2010 Seasons, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
2009 Still Lives, Joanne Artman, Laguna Beach, CA
2008 Northwestopia, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
Patterns of Light, Pacini Lubel Gallery, Seattle, WA
2007 Laura Ross-Paul: The Allusive Self, curated by Jessica Hunter Larsen, Coburn Gallery, Colorado College, Colorado
Springs, CO (catalogue)
2006 Naked, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR (catalogue) 2005 Pattern and Illusion, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR 2004 Connect, Pacini Lubel Gallery, Seattle, WA
2003 Juggling, Jenkins-Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2002 Simple Geometry, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
2000 Markers, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR (catalogue) 1999 Dances and Exorcisms, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
Realism Into Abstraction, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1997 Defying Gravity, Froelick Adelhart Gallery, Portland, OR (brochure) 1996 The Emotion of Light, Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA
History Lessons, Froelick Adelhart Gallery, Portland, OR 1995 New Paintings, Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA
Recent Work, Oils and Monotypes, Oregon State University—Fairbanks Gallery, Corvallis, OR
Studies for the Light Rail Mural, Oregon State University—Fairbanks Gallery, Corvallis, OR 1994 Collective Meditations, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
The Five Senses: New Lithographs, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR 1993 Laura Ross-Paul: Oil Paintings, Ceremonial Office of the Governor, Salem, OR
Oil Paintings and Watercolors, Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA
1991 Oil Paintings and Watercolors, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
1990 A Decade of Painting: 1981-1990, curated by Terri Hopkins and Paul Sutenin, The Art Gym—Marylhurst University,
OR, (catalogue)
Paintings and Drawings, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
1988 Northwest Viewpoints: Laura Ross-Paul—Watercolors, curated by John Weber, Portland Art Museum, OR
(catalogue)
1987 Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
1985 The Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR
1984 Works Dealing with Nature and Dreams, Multnomah Art Center, Portland, OR
The Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR
1983 New Paintings and Watercolors, The Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR 1982 The Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR
1981 The Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR
1980 The Fountain Gallery, Portland, OR
Group Exhibitions
2017 3: Group Show, Stephan O'Donnell, Kris Hagris, Laura Ross-Paul, Froelick Gallery, Portland 2016 Drawing as Core, Visual Code: North View Gallery, PCC Sylvania, crated by Mark Smith
2015 This Everlasting Valley: Willamette River Valley and Basin, Art About Agriculture 2015, Chehalem Cultural Center,
Newberg OR & Memorial Union Concourse Gallery, Oregon State University, Corvallis ORThe Pacific Northwest Art Annual, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Healing through Art, Central City Concern, Old Town Recovery Center, Portland, OR
West Coast Biennial, Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Redding, CA
2014 In Passionate Pursuit: The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Collection and Legacy, Portland Art Museum,
Portland, OR
Large Inventory, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
Ink This! Contemporary Print Arts in the Northwest, Tacoma Art Museum, WA
2013 Winter's Shadow Cast by Light: Work from the Pacific Northwest, curated by Daniel Pake, 1078 Gallery, Chico, CA
Fire Department, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
Creating Impressions:Printmaking in the Pacific Northwest, High Desert Museum, Bend, OR 2012 Large Inventory, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
Artists of Oregon: 1940s To the Present,The Gallery at Pinckney Center, Prence Hall, Central Oregon Community College, Bend Oregon
2011 Bonnie Bronson Fellows 20 Years, Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, Portland, OR 2010 7 Days, 7 Artists, 7 Rings, online responsive exhibit conceived by Rebecca Campbell & Nicole Walker.
Huffington Post, December, 2010
Women on the Verge, Joanne Artman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Album, 30th Anniversary portrait exhibit, Art Gym, Marylhurst, Marylhurst, OR Los Angeles Art Show art fair, Joanne Artman Gallery booth, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Town and Country: Oregon at 150, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Considering Spring, Pacini Lubel Gallery, Seattle, WA
Super Heroes, Joanne Artman Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2008 Collaborations, Joanne Artman Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
Awards
2015 Juror’s Award: West Coast Biennuial, Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Redding California
2007 2007 Bonnie Bronson Fellowship award, Reed College, Portland, OR
2002 Carey and Glenn S Strome Agriculture Art Memorial Purchase Award, Oregon State University,
Corvallis, OR, Jurors: Humberto Gonzales, Ronna Neuenschwander, Martha Werhle 1997 Juror's Award: Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, OR, Curator: Kathryn Kanjo
Juror's Award: Pacific Northwest Annual, Bellevue Art Museum, WA, Curator: Kathryn Kanjo 1980 Individual Artist Fellowship Recipient, Oregon Arts Commission, Salem, OR
Corporate and Public Collections
4Culture, Seattle, WA
Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
Bellevue Athletic Club, Bellevue, WA
Bonnie Bronson Memorial Collection, Reed College,
Portland, OR
Boutwell, Beard, Grimes, Portland, OR
Central City Concern, Portland, OR
City of Portland—Multnomah County Portable Works City of Portland—The Visual Chronicle
City of Seattle—Printworks 2001
Emanuel Hospital, Portland, OR
Fine Arts Graphics, Tualatin, OR
First Interstate Bank, Portland, OR
Fort Wright College, Spokane, WA
Frank Russell Company, Tacoma, WA
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, OR
Kaiser Permanente, Portland, OR
Kaiser Permanente, Vancouver, WA
Lutheran Business Collective, Salem, OR Management Compensation Group, Portland, OR Mentor Graphics, Wilsonville, OR
Dr. Debbie Miller, Portland, OR
Mt. Hood Community College, Portland, OR Multnomah Athletic Center, Portland, OR
Commissions
Northwest Film Center, Portland Art Museum, OR
Ochoco Lumber, Prineville, OR
Oregon State - Bureau of Land Management, Eugene, OR Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR
Oregon State Capitol Art Collection, Salem, OR
Oregon State University, Corvallis—Art Department Oregon State Univ, Corvallis—Art About Agriculture Portland Art Museum—Gilkey Center for Graphic Art Portland Art Museum, OR
Portland Community College, Performing Art Center Portland Community College, Cascade Campus, Portland, Portland State University, OR
Regional Arts & Culture Council, Portable Works
Collectiion, Portland, Oregon Salem Replacement Hospital, Salem, OR Sheraton Hotel, Seattle, WA
State Capitol, Salem, OR
State Office Building, Pendleton, OR
State Office Building, Portland, OR
State of Washington, Olympia, WA
Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA
Tacoma Museum of Art, Tacoma, WA
U.S. Bank, Portland, Oregon
W Hotel, Seattle, WA
Wacker Chemical International, Portland, Or
2002 Join, Portland Art Museum—Gilkey Center for the Graphic Arts, OR, intaglio edition for the Patron Print 1998 Governor's Arts Awards, Oregon Arts Commission, series of oil paintings for the awards, painting for poster
1996 Harold and Arlene Schnitzer and the Claremont Hotel of Berkeley, California, six lithographs 1995 Tri-Met Westside Lightrail Zoo Station, Metropolitan Arts Commission, Portland, OR, mural,
Curator: Kristy Edmunds
1990 USA Network Movie—Spy, Hollywood, CA, series of paintings
1985 The Visual Chronicle, Metropolitan Arts Commission, painting documenting Portland, OR
Fellowships and Residencies
2013 Susan Cooley-Gilliom Artist Residency and Teaching (ART) Program, PlacerArts, Placer County, Roseville, CA
2007 Bonnie Bronson Fellowship
Teaching Residency: In conjunction with exhibit The Illusive Self, Colorado College, Colorado Springs
Professional Experience
2007 Board of Directors, Portland Art Center, Portland, OR All Oregon Annual, Oregon State Fair, Salem, OR, juror
1998-2001 Steering Committee, Portland State University—Art Department Alumni Assoc, OR 1997 Works of Faith, juror, First Presbyterian Church, Portland, OR
Student Art Show, juror, Portland Community College, OR
1996 Regional Arts and Culture Council—Project Grant Panelist, Visual Arts, Portland, OR
1994-1995 Metropolitan Arts Commission—Chair of Grant Panel: Multidiscipline Project Grants, Portland 1994-1995 Commissioner, Metropolitan Arts Commission, The City of Portland, OR
1994 Visual and Media Arts Panel, Metropolitan Arts Commission, Portland, OR
Advisory Artist—Arts-In-Education, Portland Public Schools, Portland, OR
William Jamison Scholarship—Inaugural Juror, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland 1993 Women in the Arts, juror, Center for the Performing Arts—Intermediate Theater, Portland, OR 1992 Founding Board Member: ART/NET, Portland, OR, non-profit arts resource/advocacy group 1990 Executive Committee Member, City of Portland, Oregon, Arts Plan 2000+
Arts Plan 2000+—Steering Committee, The City of Portland, OR
Artist Needs Task Force Leader for a major sub-division of the Arts Plan 2000+, Portland, OR Undercurrents, curator, Portland Center for the Visual Arts, OR (catalogue)
1981-1984 Board Member, Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Portland, OR
1978-1980 Oregon Arts Institute—Advisory Committee Member, for the Four Conversations Series 1979 Artist-in-Residence, North Powder, OR, Sponsor: Oregon Arts Foundation
Education Committee Member, Portland Center for the Visual Arts, OR
1976-1979 Co-Founder— Northwest Artists Workshop, alternative exhibit space, Portland, OR
Teaching Experience
2006-2008 Figure Drawing/ Painting, Lewis and Clark College Portland, OR
1990-2007 The Figure, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, OR
1996-2006 Advanced Painting: The Figure, Associate Professor of Painting, Portland State University, 1994 Watercolor Monotype, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR
1990-1995 Watercolor Monotype, Watermark Press, Portland, OR
1989-1991 Painting Class—Guest Teacher, Menucha Arts, OR
1989-1991 Watercolor Workshop, Marylhurst University—Lifelong Learning Center, OR
1986-1988 Life Drawing and Third Year Painting, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
Painting and Drawing, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR
1986-1987 Advanced Painting Seminar, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland
1986-1987 Advanced Painting, Marylhurst University—Lifelong Learning Center, OR
1983-1984 Painting/BasicDrawing,Lewis and ClarkCollege, Portland, OR 1980-1984 Watercolor/Figure; Life Drawing; Drawing; and Watercolor and Portrait Painting, PNCA 1979-1985 Life Drawing; and Watercolors and Drawing, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR