Laura Tanner (b. 1987, Atlanta) received her BFA in Studio Art in 2010 from Florida State University, followed by her MFA in Studio Art in 2013, from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Straddling drawing and social practice, Tanner's works act as archives of regional foodways, shedding light on how recipes and traditions surrounding the gathering table reflect regional challenges and inform collective identity. Using a collage-like methodology, Tanner combines archival imagery with imagined compositions inspired by oral histories, gathered through community engagement, to create her interdisciplinary works. Tanner lives in Boca Raton, FL where she is an Associate Professor at Florida Atlantic University.
Solo and duo exhibitions include (Upcoming) A Month of Sundays, Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, Little Rock, USA (2026); Dish, Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, USA (2025), Dish, 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, USA (2024); Dish, Rosemary Duffy Larson Gallery, Ft. Lauderdale, USA (2023); Dish, Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, USA (2022); Choice Cuts, Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art, Mesa, USA (2022); Overlapping Tensions, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, USA (2019).
Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) Symposium, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, USA (2025); Coined in the South Biennial, Mint Museum, Charlotte, USA (2024); She. Her. Hers, Palm Beach Cultural Center, Lake Worth, USA (2023); Moment, Memory, and Time, Tempe Center for the Arts, Phoenix, USA (2023); Combined Talents: Southern Futurism, Museum of Fine Art, Tallahassee, USA (2023); Art x Climate, Fifth National Climate Assessment, online gallery (2023); Arizona Biennial, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, USA (2020); Inspiration in Isolation, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, USA (2020); Art on Paper 2019: The 48th Exhibition, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, USA (2019); Regime of Images, Durden and Ray Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2019); Art on Paper Fair, The Armory (Pier 36), Ferrara Showman Gallery, New York City, USA (2019); Art on Paper Fair, The Armory (Pier 36), Ferrara Showman Gallery, New York City, USA (2018); Art on Paper Fair, The Armory (Pier 36), Ferrara Showman Gallery, New York City, USA (2017); Pulse, Miami Beach (Booth N-201), Ferrara Showman Gallery, Miami, USA (2017).
Highlights and Collections
Laura Tanner’s current project, Dish has received support through numerous grants, awards, and fellowships, including the South Florida Cultural Consortium Award and fellowships from the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences and the Tulane ByWater Institute. Recent commissions include a 30 ft installation at the new Miami-Dade County Courthouse; four site-specific mosaic installations in Palm Beach County as part of the city of Boca Raton’s Centennial celebration; and the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 2023, select drawings were includedin the inaugural Art x Climate section of the fifth National Climate Assessment, a two-part congressionally mandated report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program with a mission to assess the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century. Tanner’s work is held in public and private collections internationally, which include, Weatherspoon Art Museum, US; Miami-Dade County Courthouse, US; Wildflower Park, City of Boca Raton, US.