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Laura Cheney
Since 2021, Laura Petrovich-Cheney has served as the art teacher at Johnson School. She is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and writer with an MFA in Studio Arts from Moore College of Art and Design, an MS in Fashion Design from Drexel University, and a BA in Fine Arts and English Literature from Dickinson College. Before moving to Marblehead, Laura was a National Board-Certified art educator in New Jersey from 2001 to 2014 and taught at Ocean County Community College from 2014 to 2016. She also served ... read more on the executive board of the Art Educators of New Jersey, presenting lectures to art educators statewide and nationally. She continues to be a member of the National Art Education Association as well as the Massachusetts Art Educators Association.
Laura has led workshops for both children and adults at notable venues including the Kentucky Artisan Center, Philadelphia Senior Center, Sharon MA School District, Wellesley Public Schools, the International Quilt Museum, and the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts.
Passionate about teaching young artists, Laura draws endless inspiration from their creativity and curiosity. She believes their fresh perspectives and boundless imaginations continually fuel her own artistic practice.
In addition to teaching, Laura is a full-time practicing artist. Her recent sculptures address the relationship between individual and environmental concerns, drawing on feminist themes and traditional women’s crafts such as needlework, weaving, and quilting. By repurposing discarded materials salvaged from natural disasters, Laura’s sculptures explore personal histories, identity, and the limitless hope of second chances.
She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows across the country, including at the Toledo Museum of Art, Berea College, International Quilt Museum, Mattatuck Museum, Dickinson College, Fuller Craft Museum, James A. Michener Museum, and most recently, the Boston Children's Museum. Laura has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Park Service, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the Clark Hulings Fund for Visual Artists. She has attended residencies at the Society of Arts and Crafts, The Arctic Circle, Vermont Studio Center, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. In 2017, she was awarded the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, followed by the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Crafts in 2021.
Also, Laura enjoys cooking, working as a Master Gardener for Newhall Fields Community Farm, Lowell Veterans Memorial Park and the gardens at Peabody Essex Museum. Her writing has been published in School Arts Magazine, and selections from her memoir have also been published. She lives in Marblehead, MA with her husband, dog and cat.
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