Dr Laura Woodward is a practicing artist based in Melbourne. Woodward has been exhibiting sculptural, kinetic installations since 2006.
Her current artistic trajectory involves the creation of looped systems embodied in these sculptural installations, where the system is the work of art and the work of art is the system. These systems develop through the relationships between materials, movement, time and the artist's hand. The system's inherent logic drives its formal and systematic emergences, opening up the opportunity for bodily resonances and experiences forged between artwork and viewer. Woodward's systems are increasingly shifting away from digital or electronic controls, instead embracing the power and weight of water to develop analogue-hydraulic logic systems. Video and drawing works have also started to emerge from Woodward's studio, often generated through those same processes used to create her kinetic sculptures.
Woodward's sculptural practice involves the application of various materials including stainless steel, plastics, silicones, electronics, motors and fasteners to create the various elements in her work including vessels, peristaltic pumps, and switching units. She works with processes and technologies ranging from ready-at-hand studio experimentation through to three-dimensional modelling for computer numerically controlled cutting, resulting in the detailed assembly of highly-finished, expansive installations.
Woodward's work has been recognised nationally through numerous prizes, grants, public commissions, solo exhibitions and significant group exhibitions. She received Australia Council New Work Grants in 2010, 2013 and 2014; won the Agendo Prize for Emerging Artists in 2009; and was awarded the Vulcan Steel Postgraduate Tutorship Award and a Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship Award in 2007. In 2015 Woodward received a 'Highly Commended' award for the Art Gallery of NSW Studios in Paris Scholarship.
Woodward's solo exhibitions include "Writhe", Ararat Regional Gallery, 2015; "Introverted", Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Southbank, 2013; "The Saltus", Place Gallery, Richmond, 2011; and "Underwing", Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda, 2010. Woodward's work has been included in several curated group exhibitions include "Composing Common Worlds", Hawthorn Town Hall Gallery and "In Motion", Airspace, Sydney, 2014; and the "McClelland Sculpture Award" in 2007 and 2010.
Woodward's practice also increasingly involves the creation of large-scale sculptural works for the public realm. Completed public commissions include "Voices" – a giant set of seven sensor-activated tubular bells – at Craigieburn Central Shopping Centre in collaboration with Jem Freeman, and the Horsham Highway Entrance Sculpture.
www.laurawoodward.com.au
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Honours, Awards and Fellowships
National Winner - Innovative Teaching Award
Early Career Teaching Award
Credentials
Positions
Lecturer In Art
Victorian College Of The Arts
Nava Premium Plus
National Association for the Visual Arts
Education
Doctor of Philosophy
University of Melbourne
Masters of Fine Art
University of Melbourne
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours)
Victorian College of the Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Sculpture)
Victorian College of the Arts