Laura Marie Drenthe Graduated in 2008 with a BA Hons in Art Practice from the University of Glamorgan.


About her work Laura writes,

For as long as I can remember I have had a great love for the natural world. As a child and now an adult I am fascinated with the form and the beauty of our natural surroundings, a place where I feel at peace with nature’s greatest inspirations. The time I spend within the natural environment is when the space becomes my very own magical world where I feel most creative.
During my childhood I developed a love of fairy enchantment, the fairies were part of my play within the natural environment. I have wonderful memories of playing at my grandfather’s garden, where the surroundings always appeared magical. The form and beauty of the flowers within the garden are what sparked my imagination of flower fairies, entering into a world of enchantment. Now only a trace within my memory and imagination is left of the beauty I experienced as a child.
Over the years as I have gained knowledge and grown into an adult I have discovered there is a close connection between fairies and the natural world. Before the time of Christianity fairies were worshiped as Gods and as the seasons changed throughout the year so did the individual fairy to be worshiped at the time. Even today there are pagans who still continue to worship fairies as their Gods with the changing of the seasons. Although fairies have not always been perceived in this way, today many of us hold a stereotypical image of kind, friendly fairies with long flowing hair and radical costumes. During the Victorian times fairies were perceived as mischievous. Parents used to place metal objects in the infants cradles to prevent the fairies from abducting the infants. Metal was perceived as a barrier to warn off fairies. Metals have different properties, both symbolic and alchemical. Lead is both poisonous and deathly but also protects bodies from corrosion and buildings from weather.
My work is way of expressing and opening my soul to a mysterious and magical world of nature and enchantment. From the inspiration of the natural world I explore a variety of methods to create an enchanted environment, transforming and preserving natural beauty, a trace of something that once did live. I create each piece to appear organic as if it is growing out of itself, as spring will come again. In doing so my intension is to provide the viewer with a sense of beauty that they too can be at peace with natures greatest inspirations, and too experience a tingle of magic.