Laura Jones

Sydney artist Laura Jones drew on her background as a florist when creating her artwork Space Dahlias ( page 40). “My work has grown from a desire to express a love for nature — the process of painting beginning with the physical act of arranging flowers,” says Jones. “With this piece, I loved responding to a still life by transitioning the colour and form of the flowers and objects into a more abstract interpretation.” The holder of a master’s degree in art from UNSW Art & Design, Jones declares herself “inspired by Mother Nature” and is passionate in her efforts to impress a love of the environment onto her audience. Her most recent work engaged with climate change’s impact on coral and the mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, and resulted in an exhibition titled Bleached at Sydney’s Olsen Gallery. Jones is currently putting the final touches to her first solo exhibition, at Melbourne’s Sophie Gannon Gallery starting 1 August, having worked her way through her tried-and-tested creative process of “a lot of experimentation and paint wrangling”. She is seen here with her artworks, including (on left) Cymbidium Still Life.