Laurel Hawkswell

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Laurel Hawkswell is a painter and mixed-media artist based in Edmonton, Alberta. Her studio practice centres on original paintings and material-rich works that explore colour, shape, and expressive surface. She is currently showing with NOA Gallery in Edmonton’s Bonnie Doon Mall, participates in the NOA Art Walk community of artists and the Whyte Avenue Art Walk each year

Guided by intuition and drawn to the unexpected textures of paint and form, Laurel’s work balances structure and spontaneity with a touch of her graphic design background influencing her pieces. She maintains a visually active studio, combining her painting practice with mural and signage commissions and a strong local presence. Her art invites viewers into a pause: a moment of interplay between abstraction and reference, surface and light.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work begins with a sense of feeling, mainly positivity. Some pieces highly planned while others done with a jump right in attitude! I follow an internal compass toward shape, colour and surface. A composition emerges — sometimes loose and sometimes quite detailed and defined — out of material, gesture and the push-and-pull between control and release.

I am drawn to painting because of its capacity to express feeling: quiet or dynamic but always uplifting. I explore how colour can draw you to the work, edge can blur or have crisp edges. I like to see brush strokes to emphasize that a human is behind the image. Each painting is its own world — one I want to share. A glimpse into my view on the world.

In showing with NOA Gallery and in the Edmonton art-community context, I aim to connect with others. My hope is that people pause, feel something uplifting, and leave with a memory of paint, texture and presence that lightens your spirit.

View Laurel Hawkswell's Artwork