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Fun, joyous, painterly and sensuous are words frequently used to describe artworks by Laura Higgins Palmer. Palmer's art training began with landscape & nature studies, and continued with anatomyand design training with art masters from the Bauhaus. After attending the Corcoran School of Art, she received her BFA from Cornell University and MA from George Washington University. She has taught drawing, painting, design, figure drawing and anatomy to students ranging in age from elementary school through college. Her work reflects decades of experience drawing figures in motion. From countless volumes of her drawings Palmer creates finished paintings based on improvisations, observations, characters, and theatrical productions. |
| Palmer began working with dancers and choreographers over 15 years ago. Her newest series, " Night & Day ," is an homage to the late Edward Stewart, founding Artistic Director of Ballet Theatre of Maryland. Palmer states "After working so long and intensively with such a generous soul as Eddie, I see and hear his work everywhere I go. I especially see his work in my books of drawings. I see his choreographic ideas and the many dancers he presented over the years scattered among the stars and in the colors of the sky." | |
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Palmer's Characters & Theatricals depict characters, emotions and choreography of full-scale dance productions. Palmer frequently observes a performance piece from its early rehearsal stages. Rehearsal observations may contain the seed of artwork including costumes, scenes and details that develop independently of the dance. One imaginative example is "Off with his Head", a two-panel painting Palmer developed from drawings done during rehearsals of Eddie Stewart's "Alice in Wonderland." |
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The Improvisations & Observations are not necessarily specific to any choreography. They originate in the many hours Palmer spends observing and drawing dance classes, rehearsals and performances. It is not unusual to find Palmer sitting with a sketchbook at any of these occasions. Though Ballet Theatre of Maryland is her home company, she is frequently asked by various dance groups to draw rehearsals. Laura Higgins Palmer's artworks hang as a testament and inspiration in dance studios around the world. |
| Categories frequently overlap in Palmer's artwork. In the series Night & Day we see elements of character, observation and improvisation by the artist. There is a strong and fantastic sense of how the body belongs to the landscape as well. We see these same characteristic strengths in Palmer's lyrical abstractions and in the Jazz series. In series such as these we see the full spectrum of Palmer's talent: grounded in study, in nature and in the art materials themselves. Strong emotion and vibrant color are graced with the beauty of dance. | |
| -Dianne Hunt, choreographer, designer and author of Erika Thimey: A Life of Dance, A Dance of Life | |
Read a statement by the artist about her work