Profile
Laurie Blum is an artist who paints in a style all her own. Her works have been exhibited in the United States, Iran, and India, and the Shiraz Institute of Cultural Affairs in Iran has compared her color, style and subject matter to that of the renowned Shiraz School of Persian Miniature Painting Era. Laurie has painted all of her life, and during 2003-5, she has focused on paintings in Iran that capture the country’s natural beauty. Her painting mediums are oil on canvas and more recently, since traveling to Iran, gouache on paper.
Laurie has long sought the opportunity to paint in Iran, and in 2003, she was given permission to paint in many of the country’s most beautiful locations. Recent works have centered around symbols of Persian poetry including the Sarv Naz, Chanar Trees, Nightingales, Rose Gardens, Orange blossoms and the Ku (mountains). Laurie believes Shiraz to be the most beautiful place on Earth, and her hope is to exhibit her paintings of Iran in order to educate as many people as possible about the truly sublime beauty of this country.
Laurie was born in New York City in 1953, and she honed her craft at the High School of Art & Design in New York, Philadelphia College of Art, New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture, and Laney College of California State University.
Laurie was given the precious honor by the Shiraz Institute of Cultural Affairs to be the first painter to exhibit her work at the Tomb Shrine of Hafez in Shiraz, Iran in December 2004-5. In 2005 the works were exhibited in Meherabad, India. Upcoming exhibits of her work are planned in Washington, DC at the Iran Consulate, New York City, New Jersey and Istanbul where she has been invited to exhibit her works of Istanbul at the Islamic Museum. She has also been invited to exhibit at Saadabad (the Shah's Palace Art Museum in Teheran) and another show at Hafez Tomb in Shiraz. Laurie’s work has been profiled in NY Arts Magazine and Love Street Lampost and the Sun News. In December 2004 she had a write up by a journalist in Shiraz, Iran. In 2006 the paintings were exhibited in Washington, DC, Boston, and Los Angeles. In July 2007, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations sponsored her exhibit at the Secretariat Lobby of The United Nations. October 29 - November 19, 2007, Laurie exhibited fifty-two paintings in the Grand Gallery of the National Arts Club in New York City.
