Laurie Smith

Laurie’s family moved to California when she was nine. She attended Stephens College and graduated from Northwestern University, but it was her accomplishments in the areas of fashion design, millinery, and jewelry making where her creative talents soared.

Laurie discovered the Laguna Beach School of Art in 1980 and was introduced to live model sculpting. Initially, this preferred medium was a hobby that filled stolen hours for a busy wife and mother. Over the years, she attended local community college classes and artist workshops, where she had access to models and learned essential artistic techniques that enabled her to discover the dramatic effect of completing her sculptures in bronze. She has processed many of her pieces herself, working from clay or wax to the final bronze patina. When using a foundry, she participates in all aspects of the process, taking personal responsibility for the outcome.

Sculpture has united Laurie’s natural mechanical ability, her aptitude for perceiving spatial relations, and her observations of life, allowing her to recreate the human form in allegorical, realistic ways. Earned confidence, retirement from a career in non-profit management, and independence, now allow Laurie to passionately apply herself, creating stories and expressing issues through the lasting medium of bronze. In 2004 she began exhibiting her bronzes and in five years she has works in private collections in 12 states, Europe & India. Laurie also focuses on, and teaches, bas and high relief and has been commissioned by many to preserve their personal memories in bronze.