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Louie Laskowski by Stephanie Funcheon About the Artist Born in Dayton, Ohio, 1947, Louie Laskowski spent her early childhood in a trailer park. Her parents had married 4 years earlier after knowing each other for 3 days. It was a war marriage and the ceremony took place on July 4th, 1943. Louie's birth name was Eileen Louise Horne. In 1964, her family moved to Marion, IN. She attended Purdue University in Lafayette, IN. She received her Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, Art Education, and Physical Education. In 1969 she gave birth to her only child, and four years later was divorced from her first husband. Her first memory about being interested in art was at the age of 4 when she felt envy when hearing some adults speak highly their child's colored pictures. At the time Louie was in the hospital waiting to get her tonsils out. All through her young school life she remembers she was strongly attracted to other children that could color or draw well. Her mother said that Louie would spend hours on her coloring. The next significant memory Louie had pertaining to her artistic development was the day her father brought home a "real" oil painting. She remembers this painting captured her attention for years and says, "I wondered many times how one could paint so magically, how color could be blended and mixed so magnificently. I felt it was just short of a miracle." Her mother also started working with paint-by-number sets. When Louie suffered rheumatic fever at the age of 9, her mother gave her an oil paint kit. As an adult, Louie received her Bachelors and Masters in the Arts from Purdue University and became a high school art teacher. Teaching, parenting, and political advocacy took its toll on her artistic productivity. By the time Louie was 30 years old, she started to seriously question the need for art, the making of more "stuff to pile or stack somewhere, unseen. So her energies were pulled towards education and legislative politics. After 8 years of service, she decided to disengage from her political commitments, and again connect with her art self. From her public experiences, she found some answers to her questions about the value of art. She explains, "I have come to believe that art is about the inner connection between the soul, spirit, and physical self in search for greater understanding and the desire for human connection. The result is a physically manifested product that embodies this evolvement. In other words, I perceive that art brings together the skills and knowledge of the mind, heart, and body in order to create a greater wisdom. The art experience is both my quest and reward. She lives in Brookston, IN., just north of Purdue University. Louie Laskowski Studio P.O. Box 428 307 Railroad Street Brookston, IN 47923 (765) 563-6577 E-mail: louie@dcwi.com LOUIE LASKOWSKI is an Indiana Arts Commission Fellowship Recipient All artwork and code Copyright © 2005 Louie Laskowski No part of this document may be copied or used without express written permission of the artist.