Laura
Jean McLaughlin grew up in Pittsburgh, PA in a family of 11 children.
She always wanted to be an artist but was encouraged to go to school to
be a Medical Technologist. After taking her first clay class the last
semester in school she discovered a new passion. Marc Leuthold, a
ceramic artist fresh out of grad school, took Laura under his wing and
helped her get into graduate school at WVU for clay with a full
scholarship. Laura left her high paying laboratory job to develop and
grow her newly found passion in clay.
Now Laura is a full-time ceramic
artist who sells her work to over 80 Galleries, Collectors and
Designers, throughout the U.S. and abroad. She studied at the Watershed
Center for the Ceramic Arts, ME, Penland School of Crafts, NC, West
Virginia University College of Creative Arts and Indiana University of
Pennsylvania. Her teaching and workshop experiences include; Manchester
Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh, Clarion University, Beloit University,
Southern Illinois University as well as Western Kentucky University.
She is recipient of the Maggie Milano Memorial Award from the Carnegie
Museum and three prestigious residencies from Kohler Company in
Wisconsin. Laura Jean’s ceramic work has been featured in Ceramics
Monthly, Clay Times, American Style, American Craft magazine and two
books; 500 Teapots and 500 Bowls. Her work is in the collection of PNC
Park, Kohler Art Center, Kohler Company and HBO in New York.
