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Laura Ahola-Young received her MFA from San Jose State University in 2001. She currently resides in Pocatello, Idaho where she is an Associate Professor of Art at Idaho State University. Originally from northern Minnesota, Laura has been influenced by landscapes, winters, ice and resilience. She is currently developing work that incorporates scientific research, the Pacific Northwest and personal narrative.
What projects are you working on right now?
For the last 3 months I have been working on a series of intricate drawings and paintings that attempt to reflect and investigate the passage of time. The works are both a personal narrative and political commentary. I was born in 1970, and I had an impulse to look back over these fifty years at what has changed in American society- and what has not changed. 1970 marked the creation of the first Earth Day and the EPA and yet we face climate change that science is proving to be urgent. I have also found other remarkable events, from women's marches to gun violence from the year 1970 that strike me as not just ironic but alarming. Specifically, I am studying the textiles, plastics and patterns from the era to comment on todays climate crisis and divided political climate in America.
How do you keep yourself accountable in your practice?
I, honestly, am not sure how to best answer this question. I read many interpretations into the world accountable. For me, it means that I stay well informed, first about contemporary art practices. Perhaps because I am also a teacher I find it imperative to consider our work as artists important so I am constantly trying to learn what other artists are saying. I also think I am accountable to keep a consistent awareness to the wider world- from politics, social structures and science. I want to be able and ready to respond. It is imperative that I am accountable to the viewer and remember that making art is a public act. As for making the work, I seem to always have a nervous sort of pressing need to get to the studio. I teach and paint- my focus and work ethic is paramount on how I have chosen to live my life. I want to be in the studio and am known to not "have a life". I have not always had the privilege to maintain this focus - multiple jobs, raising two daughters. I worked hard to get here!
How do you stay motivated to pursue your creative work?
The work itself drives me. I have so many unanswered questions about the world and the work is a way to have and create meaning, to research and ask more questions. Of course, there are times when one or two works "aren't working" and it is those moments in the studio that can and will stop me in my tracks and feel like defeat. A way that I have navigated this is by working on many pieces at a time- 15 to 20 pieces maybe. I just move on to the next piece. Experience has shown me that some paintings are just not meant to be. I work with different media, so I might switch to drawing or to oil paint to fight the negativity battle. I tend to be very private about each piece until I am ready to share it. Often, being a teacher helps- seeing students overcome obstacles is satisfying and meaningful and feeds into my own work.
Where do you hope to be 10 years from now and what would you like to say to yourself?
Above all, I certainly hope that I will be in good health! In ten years I would like to have the resources to travel more. I suppose I will be thinking about retirement from teaching and setting up a year round studio practice. I would like to look back and acknowledge that my dedication to my practice, and teaching, was worth it. I am from Northern Minnesota and currently live in Idaho. My desire is to return home, even with the winters, as the landscape of my homeland is intrinsic to my work and my identity. I have a commitment to social activism that I hope to put to good use and can look back and see I made some sort of difference- either through my work or community actions. I think it would be fantastic if I could look back and say I am glad I never gave up, that I worked hard and that I did let fears be a driving force.
For the last 3 months I have been working on a series of intricate drawings and paintings that attempt to reflect and investigate the passage of time. The works are both a personal narrative and political commentary. I was born in 1970, and I had an impulse to look back over these fifty years at what has changed in American society- and what has not changed. 1970 marked the creation of the first Earth Day and the EPA and yet we face climate change that science is proving to be urgent. I have also found other remarkable events, from women's marches to gun violence from the year 1970 that strike me as not just ironic but alarming. Specifically, I am studying the textiles, plastics and patterns from the era to comment on todays climate crisis and divided political climate in America.
How do you keep yourself accountable in your practice?
I, honestly, am not sure how to best answer this question. I read many interpretations into the world accountable. For me, it means that I stay well informed, first about contemporary art practices. Perhaps because I am also a teacher I find it imperative to consider our work as artists important so I am constantly trying to learn what other artists are saying. I also think I am accountable to keep a consistent awareness to the wider world- from politics, social structures and science. I want to be able and ready to respond. It is imperative that I am accountable to the viewer and remember that making art is a public act. As for making the work, I seem to always have a nervous sort of pressing need to get to the studio. I teach and paint- my focus and work ethic is paramount on how I have chosen to live my life. I want to be in the studio and am known to not "have a life". I have not always had the privilege to maintain this focus - multiple jobs, raising two daughters. I worked hard to get here!
How do you stay motivated to pursue your creative work?
The work itself drives me. I have so many unanswered questions about the world and the work is a way to have and create meaning, to research and ask more questions. Of course, there are times when one or two works "aren't working" and it is those moments in the studio that can and will stop me in my tracks and feel like defeat. A way that I have navigated this is by working on many pieces at a time- 15 to 20 pieces maybe. I just move on to the next piece. Experience has shown me that some paintings are just not meant to be. I work with different media, so I might switch to drawing or to oil paint to fight the negativity battle. I tend to be very private about each piece until I am ready to share it. Often, being a teacher helps- seeing students overcome obstacles is satisfying and meaningful and feeds into my own work.
Where do you hope to be 10 years from now and what would you like to say to yourself?
Above all, I certainly hope that I will be in good health! In ten years I would like to have the resources to travel more. I suppose I will be thinking about retirement from teaching and setting up a year round studio practice. I would like to look back and acknowledge that my dedication to my practice, and teaching, was worth it. I am from Northern Minnesota and currently live in Idaho. My desire is to return home, even with the winters, as the landscape of my homeland is intrinsic to my work and my identity. I have a commitment to social activism that I hope to put to good use and can look back and see I made some sort of difference- either through my work or community actions. I think it would be fantastic if I could look back and say I am glad I never gave up, that I worked hard and that I did let fears be a driving force.
Laura Ahola-Young
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