The work of Calgary-based artist Laura Vickerson varies widely in form, medium, and scale. From intimate, garment-based pieces of gauze and wax to large- scale installations involving rose petals pinned to yards of sheer fabric, Vickerson has won critical acclaim for the 3D fibre works resulting from her mixed media experiments.
Holding a BFA from University of Alberta (1981) and an MFA from University of Victoria (1986), Vickerson currently teaches at ACAD. She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre, and Sympo-Fibres International in Ste-Hyacinth, Quebec. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards through Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and the Arts Council of England.
Vickerson has produced site-specific installations for international exhibitions, including the Istanbul Biennial and le Manifestation Internationale d’Art de Quebec. She created a work for an old British Textiles mill in the Yorkshire dales through Locus +, entitled “Fairytales and Factories”. Vickerson has exhibited extensively in Canada, the United States, Britain, Turkey, Poland, and China.
Her work is featured in collections such as: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Walter Phillips Gallery Permanent Collection; Esso Resources Permanent Collection; Banff Centre Permanent Collection; Alberta Foundation for the Arts; University of Alberta Print & Drawing Collection; Art Gallery of Alberta.
Selected solo exhibitions: Memoria, Biennale du Lin, Eglise St. Joseph, Portneuf, Quebec (2007); William’s Carnations (site-specific),“Red” Exhibition, The Textiles Museum of Canada (Toronto, 2002); Trace, Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, (Montreal, 2001); Fairy Tales and Factories (site-specific for Farfield Textiles Mill), Sedbergh, Yorkshire Dales, for Holden Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK, 1999). Selected group exhibitions: 14th International Triennial of Tapesty, Lodz, Poland (2013); There and Gone, Galeria Klimy, Warsaw, Poland and The Nickle Arts Museum (2005); human/nature, Dolan Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China, Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Lando Gallery, Edmonton (2004); Metamorphing, London Science Museum, UK (2002).