Meet the Artist: Laurel Henn

Laurel's art has always consumed her life and living space. Over the years she has discovered that the better organized she is, the easier it is to produce art. In her adolescent years her studio consisted of her bedroom in her parents' home. To her mothers horror, the room was covered in speckles of airbrush paint, giant stacks of papers, canvases and all manner of unorganized art supplies that had no place to be stored. Since those days, every new space she moves into is evaluated, not for the size of kitchen, or value of neighborhood, but for its use as a functional art studio.

Straight out of college she found the cheapest apartment that had the biggest living/dining room square footage so she could get the largest workbench possible. That workbench was a full sheet of plywood, 8ft by 4 ft, which was held up by paper drawers. It consumed the room, and in the corner she had the tiniest loveseat that none of her friends ever wanted to crash on.

Since then her studio and living spaces have parted ways, mostly. Her studio is primarily a print studio and is located in a quite building on a friends property just outside of town. Her studio now days has a place for everything. Brushes, brayers and paper all have homes, along with a generous storage area for supplies coming and going. There is a print area, and a framing area, the two most important aspects of Laurels work. The more organized her studio is, the more she gets accomplished.

There is always work she brings home, and often she does most of her block carving and painting of her prints at home since her small child is more comfortable there for long hours. Her office is still in her home, and this is where she runs the business side of her art. When her current studio was first built she tried to keep the office in the same space as the print studio, but everything just seemed to follow her home, so she gave up, her life is consumed by art, her home no different.

Her next studio is already being designed with everything she has learned about herself, and her creation process, being put to use. She plans to break ground next spring and add onto her existing home, bringing her studio and home together once more. This time the studio will have enough room for an office area, and a workbench for her growing child.