LAUREL SPARKS
Born in Phoenix, AZ in 1972, Laurel Sparks received her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University in Boston, MA (1995), and her MFA from Milton Avery Graduate School of Art at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (2004). She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Sparks has held solo exhibitions at Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY (2018, 2015); Barbara Walters Gallery, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY (2016); Esoterico Collective, Brooklyn, NY (2014); Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA (2012); Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA (2012, 2009, 2007); and 443 PAS, New York, NY (2011).
Sparks’ work has been exhibited at venues including Cheim & Read, New York, NY; Franklin Street Works, Stamford, CT; The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY; Barbara Walters Gallery at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY; The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, Asheville, NC, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA; Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY; Elizabeth Foundation Gallery, New York, NY; D’Amelio Terras, New York, NY; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; The Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on- Hudson, NY; DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA; and Art in General, New York, NY.
Sparks’ works have been reviewed in publications such as The Drawing Center’s The Bottom Line, New American Paintings, Boston Globe, Art in America, Bloomberg, TimeOut New York, Art and Auction, Huffington Post, Art21 Magazine, and Vogue Mexico.
Sparks has received numerous grants and fellowships including the Elaine DeKooning Fellowship, SMFA Traveling Fellowship, Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant, Berkshire Taconic Fellowship, and a Boston Cultural council Grant. She was a 2013 Fire Island Artist Resident and a 2014 Fellow at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop at Elizabeth Foundation, New York, NY.