Biography

Laura Hudson grew up on Whidbey Island. After high school she moved to Bellingham and earned a BFA from Western Washington University. Shortly after, Laura crossed the country to embrace city life and attend Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where she received an MFA from the Mt. Royal School of Arts program. Following graduate school, Laura became a part of Gallery Four, an artist collective in Baltimore. Longing for a deeper connection to the natural world, she crossed the country once again to move home to the Pacific Northwest, where she met her husband and together they embraced the farm life on Whidbey Island. They are currently busy raising their three boys and enjoying rural life in Clinton — close to loving family and friends.

STATEMENT

After 20 years of a dedicated painting practice, I’ve recently shifted away from recreating reference photos, allowing my imagination to guide me instead. This change has opened the door to true creative freedom. The influence of artists like Katherine Bradford, Milton Avery, and Bob Thompson—along with countless personal experiments—has helped me uncover a way of painting that I had been intuitively seeking for years. It feels like stepping into a world I’ve always known was there, but couldn’t quite reach.

Each painting is rooted in memory—sometimes from childhood, sometimes more recent and all are deeply tied to my life on Whidbey Island. A thread of spirituality, something I’ve been quietly exploring in my personal life, has begun to emerge in my work, and I’m grateful to see it take shape on the canvas. What remains constant in my practice is a deep desire for connection—to place, to memory, to others—and a profound sense of gratitude for it.