Laurie Walker (artist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Laurie Walker
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Laurie Walker, "Prometheus Rebound", 2005 - 2008 (installation view)
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| Born | February 2, 1962 |
| Died | February 11, 2011 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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| Known for | interdisciplinary artist |
Laurie Walker (born February 2, 1962 – died February 11, 2011) was a Canadian artist. She created big art installations. These artworks often mixed ideas from old myths with scientific facts. Her art was shown in many museums and galleries across Canada. People wrote a lot about her work from 1987 to the early 2000s.
Contents
Learning and Art Education
Laurie Walker studied art at university. In 1984, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mount Allison University. Later, in 1987, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree. This was from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
Exploring Art Through Time
Early Art Creations
In her early artworks, Laurie Walker combined nature drawings with industrial machines. She used many different materials. These included steel, copper, wax, and even pressed plants. She also used glass, oak, and marble. Walker explored how sculptures could connect different areas of knowledge.
A writer named Daina Augaitis wrote about Walker's art in 1991. She said Walker's works connected old ideas about knowledge and beauty. They also linked to modern ways of understanding nature.
After finishing university in 1987, Walker developed her unique style. She paid close attention to the materials she used. Her art explored personal identity. It mixed ancient myths, industrial tools, and even animal taxidermy. She also used biological things like glowing bacteria. This led to a solo art show in 1994. It was called "Laurie Walker - Seeing Blue" at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in Montreal.
Mid-Career Art (1995-2005)
As her career continued, Walker's interests grew. She started including things like medical tools and taxidermy. She also looked into brain science and projections. She used a mix of natural and man-made materials. These included beetles, gold leaf, and even sheep manure. She also used overhead projectors, water, and glass. Her unique way of combining these things created a special art style.
The OBORO art center wrote about Walker's show "Portrait of the Artist as a Wave" in 2001. They said Laurie Walker had created a very special collection of art since the late 1980s. Her large sculptures and drawings explored nature, spirituality, and science.
The OBORO exhibition focused on the world of sleep. It invited viewers to think about what happens when we sleep. In this artwork, light and water waves interacted with Walker's own brain waves. Walker herself said the work was "a meditation on the flux of time and the nature of the wave." It showed the mind as both scientific data and personal images.
Later Life and Final Artworks
From the early 2000s, Laurie Walker's art production slowed down. This was because she became ill with Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). She spent her last decade in Montreal, trying to find a cure. Even though her illness made it hard to work, she continued to research CFIDS. She even developed new ideas about its causes.
Despite her illness, Walker completed four large drawings. These were called Prometheus Rebound. She worked on them from 2005 to 2008. After her death in 2011, these drawings were shown at the Susan Hobbs Gallery in Toronto.
The gallery's description of the show mentioned Walker's careful work. Her art was made from materials with strong symbolic meanings. These reflected her deep interest in science, old myths, and the environment. Her personal journals showed her detailed research. They also contained her thoughts on the illness that affected her later years. A magazine called NOW said her last drawings were "a window into an eclectic and unique art practice." They showed how she turned big, complex ideas into beautiful images.
Art Collections
Laurie Walker's art can be found in several important collections:
- Musee d’art contemporain de Montreal
- Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec
- Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
- Musee regional de Rimouski, Quebec
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
- Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
- Musée des beaux arts de Montréal, Montréal
