Laura E A Powers
Multi Arts; Performing Arts; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Painting
I am an independent aerial artist, oil painter, and trainer. I am available for gigs and commissions, as well as training in Tallahassee, FL.
I am certified by the American Council on Exercise as personal trainer, and I teach both functional fitness and circus arts. I am currently working toward an MS in Special Education and Pilates certification, with the goal of offering accessible, healing, and enjoyable activity for people with and without disabilities. As a circus instructor, I seek to support my students not only as athletes, but also as artists. Ultimately, I would like to develop or help facilitate a social circus program for youth with special needs.
Artist’s Statement:
Laura Powers (born 1997 in Orlando, Florida) is an independant aerial artist, oil painter, and trainer. Her work is driven by a desire to bring beauty and healing to the margins.
Laura’s art is primarily figurative. It presents an existential memoir through gesture, symbolism, and affect. Drawn to the sublime, her work depicts human subjects amidst overwhelm. In her oil paintings, she develops movement and luminosity through both classically inspired methods and loose elaborations. As an aerial circus artist, her artistic practice shapes her state of being in a visceral way; she has found that the act of pushing past fear, the embrace of vulnerability, and a certain saltus fidei leads to wonder and freedom. Deeply interested in synthesis, she explores the visual and performing arts both separately and together in video art.
Her approach to figurative painting is also informed by her work with the human body in circus arts and as a personal trainer, which offers a unique perspective on human movement. She has been inspired by ancient civilization, contemporary dance, and her Catholic faith. She still believes that meaning exists. Her life has always been characterized by this tension and longing which keeps movement alive.
