Laurie Near is a Canadian artist and teacher who is currently making an impressive impact on the local art scene. Carol Feeney, Executive Director at the Quinte Arts Council comments "Laurie is a brilliant artist who has won many awards including the Juror’s Choice Award at Quinte Arts Council’s Expressions visual art exhibit at the John M. Parrott Gallery as the jurors believed that her piece was the best in show. When I have Laurie’s art in our gallery and gift shop, people are literally drawn off the street when they see her vibrant, unique work. She is a very talented woman and great teacher with an exceptionally bright future in her field." Laurie has held a life long interest in the visual arts and has early recollections of painting as a child, remembering “the eggy smell of the tempera, the rustling of that flowered plastic smock” and her feelings that it very serious play at that time. “I’ve never been afraid of a blank page or empty canvas.” Over the...