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ART

Laura, born in Los Angeles California in 1955, moved at age 10 with her mother to Belém do Para, a Brazilian colonial city at the nexus of the Amazon basin and the Atlantic ocean.
Coming of age in this aquatic labyrinth, laced network of rivers and motion, she adopted ink and watercolor as her expression of choice. In her 20’s, as she studied yoga and contemporary dance, she started processing a sense of time, space, and internal proprioception. Her work moved towards the exploration of the elements of those landscapes – the strong but soft movement of water; the intricacy of a single leaf; the textures of a tree trunk. Eventually, only lines and space remained.
In 1985 Laura left Belém for California and then Alaska. The 2-year journey led her again to an appreciation of the elements – simple, internal yet vast. Experiencing winter in Alaska inspired great focus and insight to her work. Her return to Belém in 1987 was marked by productive inquiries into new form and flow in her paintings.
She left Belém again a year later, traveling to Japan to explore textiles, ink brushwork, Zen meditation and shiatsu bodywork, cultivating textural and material space as well as space in the mind + body. A half-year in Munich, Germany allowed her to integrate and practice these Eastern techniques alongside the practices developed in her upbringing in the Western Hemisphere.                                               
The 1990’s found Laura back in Belém, where she settled in an old colonial house and continued to develop the broadening mediums of her art, as well
​as her love for movement, meditation, and yoga. She participated in art salons, taught teens at the Curio Velho Art Foundation, and started rooting her work in the physical realm, producing site-specific installations using materials like leafs, stones and salvaged wood.Since the 2000’s, Laura has lived and worked in New York City, Brazil, and San Francisco, continuing the pattern of the elements: flowing like water, traveling through space, and reconnecting to the grounded nature of our environment. In the early 2000’s in NYC she established a live/work studio in Chelsea, painting and producing several site-specific installations like 
Transit Tempo, in collaboration with the Central Park Conservancy to celebrate Earth Day. A circle of 18 massive blocks of ice filled with flowers, pods, leaves and branches melted over the course of 36 hours at Central Park’s Turtle pond, documented in time-lapse video,

   Clip - transit tempo, installation and video  2001 NYC 

Caxiuanã is the only protected ecological reserve of the Eastern Brazilian Amazon, 220 miles from Belém. , Because of its immense water source, and diverse vegetation, its first scientific observation was written in 1860, but was only declared a national reserve in 1961. 
​The Caxiuanã River is quietly formed by abundant springs, creating a still body of water that flows smoothly into the Amazon River.
The constant flow of the  River meeting the sea, and the sun rising and setting at the same time every day, gives you a timeless sense of present continuous.  
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​"The ebb and flow of the water and the lush vegetation, is a moving source within me"

jddGhh to store to see more artwork

Clip of The Source video installation & book, for a 3 screen simultaneous video projection

​Resting Trees, 2013, an ephemeral installation at Swindler Cove in New York City, used fallen trees from hurricane Sandy to create impermanent gathering points for the citizens of the
​city to rest, think, and play until they were reabsorbed by nature.
Her work has continued to deepen into inquiries of the elements, their nature and tendencies, through work with textiles, alternating brushwork and wax, pigmentation, dyes, and fluid acrylics.
In 2014, Laura created a series of the Elements in ink and dye on silk over canvas.
Her focus now is on Botanical printing searching to reveal our interconnectedness with the natural world. She divides her time between NYC, Sunrise Lake PA. and Brazil.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2020 Residency and installation at the Emílio Goeldi
Belém, Brazil
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2015 The Berkshire Bank NY
2014 Inwood studio 44 NY
2008 New Paintings, Studio 304, NY
2007 Paintings & Photography, Studio 304, NY
2006 A Rede, installation, IAPE, Belém, Brazil
2005 The Source, video/photography, Studio 304, NY
2004 Two Million Wishes, video documentary, shown in festivals in Brasil/USA/Europe
2003-06 Árvores Dos Pedidos, interactive installation, Belém, Brazil
2003 Looking For A Quiet Place, paintings/wood installation, Studio 304, NY
2002 Wishing Tree, interactive installation, Central Park East Meadow, NY
2002 Tempo, photography/video, Galeria Imaginário, Belém, Brazil
2001 Transit Tempo, video/Installation, Central Park, NY
1999 Paintings, Havelli Gallery, Miami
1999 Findings, wood installation, Salvarey Gallery, Miami
1996 Labirintos, wood installation, Galeria Theodoro Braga, Belém, Brazil
1996 A Luz Do Olhar, video installation, Galeria Theodoro Braga, Belém, Brazil
1996 Raum, Rhythmus und Farbe, paintings, Baden Weikershein, Germany
1995 A Luz Do Olhar, video installation, Galeria Theodoro Braga, Belém, Brazil
1993 Tranas, paintings, Galeria Theodoro Braga, Belém, Brazil
1991 Espirais, stone and iron installation, CCBEU, Belém, Brazil
1990 10 Anos Depois, paintings, Espaço de Arte Hilton, Belém, Brazil
1980 Paintings, Galeria Um, Belém, Brazil
1979 Paintings, Galeria Ângelus, Belém, Brazil
 
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014 Noma Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, NY
2013 Installation Resting trees Swindler's Cove, NYC  
2009 ART IN ACTION, Soma art, SF
2008 The Rope, video installation, Corpus Kinetics, CUCHIFRITOS Gallery, NY
2006/07 The Rope, video, MISC Video & Performance, New York Studio Gallery, NY
2006 The Source, video/book, Water, Giola Gallery, Chicago
2001 Transit Tempo, video, Art + Performance by Women, Sideshow, NY
1998 Orquídeas, paintings, Galeria Astrolábio, Belém, Brazil
1998 Espiral, installation, Abraçando Amazônia, Bosque, Belém, Brazil
1994/95/96 Tranas, paintings, Exposição Coletiva, Arte Assinada, Belém, Brazil
1996 XV Arte Para, wood installation, Galeria Rômulo Maiorana, Belém, Brazil
1992 Itinerante Nordeste, works on paper, CCBEU traveling exhibition, Brazil
1992 Opus Brasileiro, bamboo installation, Salão de Arte Contemporânea, Belém, Brazil
1990 Onde As Onça Bebe Água, paintings, Museu da UFPA, Belém, Brazil
1990 Chuva, aluminum installation, Galeria Rômulo Maiorana, Belém, Brazil
1990 Salão Arte Para, paintings, Galeria Rômulo Maiorana, Belém, Brazil
1987 Kenai Arts, paintings, Kenai, Alaska
1987 Winter Show, paintings, Anchorage, Alaska
1985 Salão Arte Para, paintings, Galeria Rômulo Maiorana, Belém, Brazil
1982 Coletiva, paintings, Galeria Theodoro Braga, Belém, Brazil
1981 Coletiva, paintings, Galeria Um, Belém, Brazil


Collections
 
Museu da Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
Galeria Theodoro Braga, CENTUR, Belém, Brazil
Coleção de Arte Lutifalla Bittar, Estacon, Belém, Brazil
CCBEU – Brazil-United States Cultural Center, Belém, Brazil
 
Grants, Honors and Awards
 
1996 Honorable Mention, XV Arte Pará, Curator Paulo Herkenhoff, Belém, Brazil
1987 First Prize, Winter Show, Anchorage, Alaska
1980 First Prize, Paintings On Textiles, Santa Cruz, California
 
Selected Publications
 
2002 Martins, Cláudio, Review, O Liberal, “O tempo em transito,” January - 7
1996 Wolfgang, Thomas, Review, Tauber - Zeitung, “Raum, Rhythmus und Farbe,” July - 30
1993 Hamilton, Braga, Review, Diário do Para , “As travessias de Laura Calhoun,” October - 2
1993 La Roque, Cláudio, Article, O Liberal, “Os incríveis labirintos cromáticos,” September - 2
1992 Hamilton, Braga, Editorial de Cultura, Diário do Para, “ A luz do líquido,” October - 1
1991 Maués, Marton, Review, O Liberal, “Uma artista e seu momento,” December - 12
Picture

space and air elements silk over canvas 2011

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  • HOME
    • Bio - Laura Calhoun
    • Português
  • ART
  • NEW WORK
  • RETREATS & WORKSHOPS
    • Bodywork
    • Yoga
  • STORE
  • CONTAC