I believe in celebrating the everyday, in honoring people in our lives for who they are. I started by celebrating my colleagues in the teaching field who led even during the pandemic with creativity, compassion, and commitment. I collected photos from teacher friends’ Facebook pages, selfies where they were wearing masks that expressed who they were and what they were about, each in a unique way, and painted Teachers Facing the Challenge, which was featured in the Art Fields competition in 2022. One of the six grids I created, including Mandarin, French, Spanish, and Latin teachers, also appeared on the spring 2021 issue of The Language Educator.
2021 was a difficult year for my family when we learned that my father had an aggressive brain tumor. After his radiation and chemo treatment (while he also had COVID), Dad began a treatment that involves shaving his thick hair every other day to apply bandage-like arrays with electrodes. I took some leave to help Mom with this adjustment and chronicled some of the process with Patient Care. Several of the pieces were featured in the 10.10.10 exhibit at the Arts Council of Fayetteville in 2022, and “Preparation” was featured in the 2023 Art Fields competition.
Going into my 20th year as a classroom teacher, I embarked on an ongoing mixed media self-portrait series reflecting on various transitions from the span of career. I drew inspiration from selected Frida Kahlo self portraits for the composition and incorporated classroom materials from the stage depicted in each portrait.
Most recently, I have been experimenting with monotone collage portraits and made it to the second round of the Art Fields portrait competition in 2023.
Laura Sexton Art 