Aiming for Sparkling Perfection Drawing

Nancy Staub Laughlin works exclusively in hand-milled pastel chalks, rendering uniquely composed simulated still lifes, creating drawings rich in texture and color. Laughlin has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Moore College of Art, in Philadelphia, PA. She also attended Johnson Atelier Institute of Technical Sculpture in Princeton, New Jersey, and the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. Her pastel drawings emerge from her self- photographed assemblages or "simulated still lifes". These photographs are an important part of the process and are a separate recognized body of work. For Laughlin, the artistic journey offers an almost limitless exploration of the possibilities of artistic creation, allowing her to enter the unreal world in which she has created. For nearly thirty years, this New Jersey-based artist has pursued this course, incorporating water, light, and color, making the inanimate come alive and bringing the elements together as one. "She thus creates for us a fresh and enchanting world of form and chroma that seem to lurk just beyond the normal eyes's ability to grasp the actual scene and its implications fully. Her magical, fragmented still life and landscape reward us richly with the briefly perceived objects of a demanding vision, gloriously, dynamically reflected through the finely distorting fluidities of a fantastic water world" (Sam Hunter, Art Critic and Historian of Modern and Contemporary Art). Nancy has exhibited in New York City and has been recognized and honored in New Jersey. She has had a one- person exhibit at the New Jersey State Museum along with being included in the collection. She was honored by Secretary of State ,Nina Mitchell Wells (under Corzine) with an exhibit at the State House of New Jersey. Her most recent accomplishments have been a solo exhibit at Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters in New Brunswick where she also was a guest lecturer. Her work was also honorably included in a select show Six New Jersey Masters at Kean University, Burger Gallery. Nancy's work has received critical acclaim, reviews New York Times, City Arts and Gallery and Studio Magazine. She has had numerous features in the Star Ledger and Trenton Times. She is represented in many private and public collection sand was honored to be chosen to be in the NAWA collection at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.