Human Affects

Laura Foster Nicholson

May 10 – October 4, 2025

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

From 2020-2023, I made three related bodies of work about climate change: flooding in Venice, container ships, and the landscape and architecture of industrial agriculture and energy. I am showing a selected grouping of these themes at VMOTA, plus a few that focus more on the hope of renewable energy, careful farming, and a less destructive way of life.

With handwoven textiles and discontinuous brocaded tapestries, I have made my living as an exhibiting artist since 1982. I truly love weaving above all other processes. The intrinsic interlacing of color and the pattern of any weave are fundamental to the creation. I exploit both in subtle ways to make my images resonate as only textiles can.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Laura Foster Nicholson

Laura Foster Nicholson is a textile artist known for her handwoven tapestries. With a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, she has lectured, taught, and exhibited in the US, Canada, and Italy. Her artwork is in several museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Denver Art Museum, among others.

Grants and awards include an NEA fellowship, the Leone di Pietra prize at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, three Illinois Arts Council fellowships, and a grant from the Graham Foundation for Research in the Fine Arts.

Laura owns LFN Textiles, designing ribbons and household textiles for companies such as Renaissance Ribbons, Crate & Barrel, Land of Nod, Monticello, Larsen, Inc., and others.  She also writes about color and color trending for Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot and for Pantoneview.com.