Laura Lee Gulledge

(Artist - Page by Paige; Sealed: Growing Up Tupperware)

"Laura Lee is a cartoonist, illustrator, and all around cool chic. Lee’s imagery and sentiments have been called ‘tender, silly, serious, touching and fun all at the same time.'" --Juxtapoz

I am originally from Manassas, Virginia. I have a Master's degree in Art Education from James Madison University and was a middle school art teacher for a couple years in Louisa County. After teaching I started mural/faux finishing business called Cobalt Designs in Charlottesville, began holding solo art shows, was voted Best Artist of 2006 by the readers of “C-Ville Weekly,” and I volunteered as an art teacher for the Junior Art Club in Ghana. My trademark introspective illustrations evolved as I started performing my own breed of art therapy on myself, which I have continued ever since.

When I moved to NYC I started working as a freelance scenic painter, mostly on Macy's Christmas windows but I’ve also painted for Saks, Lord & Taylor, and the Lincoln Center Festival. I have a side business called 2nd Skin Artisan Body Painting with my painting comrade Matthew Mikas which offers airbrushing, stenciling, brushwork and glitter applique'. I occasionally do street art under the alias Karat, hanging metal etchings in New York and abroad.

I am currently writing and drawing my debut graphic novel "Page by Paige" which will be released in Spring 2011 by Amulet Books, a division of Abrams. Shamelessly autobiographical, it's illustrates a redheaded girl's artistic and emotional journey after she moves to New York from Virginia. I draw out of Outpost 51 Studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn which houses a diverse group of working artists. My comic "Sealed" is featured in the webcomix collective Act-I-Vate and in the upcoming comics anthology "The Big Feminist BUT." I have self published various zines of my artwork such as "Laura Lee and the Seven Doors" which I've sold online and through local bookstores.

I have also organized and hosted various eclectic events such as (Fake) Art Therapy, Bring Your Own Diary (BYOD), Puppets Only! Open Mic, and a Battlestar Galactica panel at Galapagos. I have also collaborated with event planner Adam Aleksander as a producer and set designer on events such as the Carnivale of Ascension masked dinner party and the Ascension of Death Haunted House.

I have shown my drawings in the following shows in New York: Solo exhibits:
HiChristina! art space "Laura Lee and Friends" (Aug 2009), "Spill It!" (Aug 2008)
Solo exhibit: Ad Hoc Gallery "In Transit" (May 2009)
Group show: Fountain Art Fair through Ad Hoc (March 2009)
Group shows: Ad Hoc Gallery "Delineations" (Jan 2009), "Bushwick Open Studios Festival" (June 2008), "Pop Subversion" (Feb 2008).