Laura R. Gadson
Quilt, fiber and mixed media artist Laura R. Gadson has explored various art mediums including slip casting, stained glass and artistic fabric dying during the course of her career. Quilting has been her primary medium of artistic expression since 2001.
She is a graduate of the renowned Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the City College of New York. Her work has been exhibited in various institutions including the New York State Museum in Albany, The Visions Museum of San Diego CA, and the Historical Society of Washington DC to name a few and her quilt designs have been displayed as banners on Harlem's 125th Street in 2009, 2010 and 2012.
Ms. Gadson’s artwork is in the private collections of such notables as Dr. Carolyn L. Mazloomi, Susan Taylor and Iyanla Vanzant as well as the institutional collections of the Morris Jumel Mansion and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Most recently Ms. Gadson was part of the three artist team commissioned to create The Legacy Quilt for the MOFAD; part of group public installation Up South; and she is currently developing a body of work entitled The Water Brought Us.
In addition to realizing her own artistic vision Ms. Gadson curates and coordinates various opportunities for other artist to exhibit and sell their work like Harlem Sewn Up quilt exhibition at the Dwyer Cultural Center in 2009 that included the artwork of artists Michael Cummings, Bisa Butler, Dindga McCannon and Faith Ringgold as well as the Strivers Art Circuit walking tour featuring artists and galleries in Harlem's Strivers Row Corridor. She is cofounder of the Harlem Aesthetic, an entrepreneurial venture that showcases artists and artisans of the African Diaspora at the Gadson Gallery.
A Harlem brownstone has been her home, studio and personal gallery since 1993.
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