Her Studio
Laura Clay is a Mexican-American artist based in Austin, specializing in painting and drawing. Her abstract paintings feature gradients, textures, and a balance between organic and geometric forms, reflecting her exploration of bicultural identity and the tension between chaos and order. She creates her own handmade paints and uses high-quality materials, including architectural pens and archival paper, to craft detailed fine-line drawings.
She holds an MFA from the National Art School in Sydney, Australia, a BFA from Texas Christian University, and has studied fine art at Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She also completed a year at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, D.C., now part of George Washington University. Her work has been acquired by Mexic-Arte Museum for its permanent collection and has been featured in publications such as Eastside Magazine. With over 60 exhibitions and art fairs worldwide, she is currently represented by Washington Gallery Waco and The Cathedral ATX. Through abstraction, Laura’s work navigates themes of displacement, balance, and identity, offering an immersive exploration of form and cultural narrative.
FEATURED IN
Cochineal
Laura creates her own paints using natural, often hand-harvested pigments. Among the most meaningful is cochineal—a rich red derived from insects found on nopal cacti in Mexico. Used for centuries in Indigenous art, cochineal connects her to ancestral traditions and reclaims historical methods in a contemporary context. Each pigment is carefully ground, mixed, and layered to achieve visual depth and conceptual resonance.
Substrates
Whether building a surface for fluid gradients or fine-line detail, Laura selects high-quality, archival substrates like canvas, linen, and paper, that honor the longevity of the work. Her paintings are created on heavyweight, gallery-wrapped canvas or custom panels; her drawings are made on acid-free, museum-grade cotton rag paper that withstands time and handling. These materials ensure each piece is not only beautiful, but built to last.
My work is rooted in movement, between cultures, between structure and fluidity, between past and present. Growing up between Mexico and the United States, I experienced firsthand the complexities of bicultural identity, the way it constantly shifts and adapts. Through painting and drawing, I explore this sense of duality and transformation, using abstraction to capture the tension between chaos and order, belonging and displacement.
Precision in every line. Laura’s drawings are rendered with professional-grade architecture, honoring her mother’s career as an architect. These pens are known for their fine, consistent lines and archival ink, allowing for intricate stippling, detailed geometry, and the contrast between control and spontaneity that defines her drawing practice.
Architecture Pens
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hello@lauraclayart.com
(512) 289-8099
