VisArts Visiting Faculty
Jessica Gardner
Laurel Lukaszewski
Laurel Lukaszewski is a Maryland-based artist who creates installations and sculptures primarily from clay. Her work is influenced by an appreciation of rhythms and patterns found in nature, her study of Japanese art and culture, and work with Japan over the past three decades while promoting U.S.-Japan grassroots exchange.
Laurel has shown her ceramic sculpture throughout the US and abroad with solo exhibitions in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as Huntsville, AL, St. Louis, MO, Tulsa, OK, and Bainbridge Island, WA. She has participated in group exhibitions and art fairs in DC, Miami, Palm Beach, New York, Chicago and the UK. In 2015, she exhibited at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as part of the U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies Program. In 2021, Laurel was a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Arts Award Recipient and in 2023 received a MSAC Grants for Artists. She was awarded the Foreign Minister’s Commendation by the Government of Japan in 2016 for her ongoing work to promote mutual understanding between the US and Japan through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.
Laurel currently serves on the Artist Advisory Committee for IA&A at Hillyer and the boards of the National Cherry Blossom Festival as an Emeritus Board Member and the U.S. Japan Exchange & Teaching Programme Alumni Association (USJETAA) Executive Committee.
Laurel’s work is in numerous private and corporate collections including NIH, Hickok Cole, The Hotel College Park, The Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner, University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center, Largo, MD and Dollar Tree Corporate Headquarters, Chesapeake, VA. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Home & Design, American Craft Magazine, Washington City Paper, Riverfront Times, The Virginian-Pilot, Veer Magazine, and others.
Laurel’s studio is in the Gateway Arts District in Mt. Rainier, MD. Please visit www.laurellukaszewski.com or @laurellukaszewski on Instagram for more information on her work.