Laurie Kersey
Biography
Laurie Kersey’s life as an artist began as a child in rural Ohio. She grew up in an artistic household and always loved to draw and paint. Her mother enjoyed painting in oils when Laurie was young and then later switched to watercolors. Her father was a horseman, training, and racing harness horses, and she spent her summers helping out in the barn at the track.
After an early art education at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and then a 15-year career in commercial art as an Art Director and Illustrator on the East Coast, Kersey relocated to San Francisco, studied painting at the Academy of Art University, and made the switch to fine art. She later taught painting and drawing in the Fine Art Department at the Academy.
Though excited about painting myriad aspects of the natural world, including landscape and floral, a dominant theme in her work is horses. Having ridden for many years, she has come to realize that her hands-on experience with horses uniquely influences the way that she sees and paints them.
“My equine paintings focus on the relationships – between horses, or between horse and human. That’s the part I know well. As beautiful as the outside of a horse is, it’s the inside that interests me the most. One of my favorite things about riding is meeting and getting to know so many different horses; different characters and personalities, different quirks, likes, and dislikes. I love discovering those things as a rider, and I love trying to express them in a painting.”
DISTINCTIONS
California Art Club – Signature Member
Oil Painters of America – Signature Member
American Impressionist Society – Signature Member
American Women Artists – Master Signature Member
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
2023 Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA – California Art Club 112th Annual Gold Medal
Exhibition
2023 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
2022 Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum, Cheyenne, WY – Cheyenne Frontier Days
Invitational Western Art Show and Sale
2022 Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA – California Art Club 111th Annual Gold Medal
Exhibition
2022 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
2022 Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN – Breaking Through, American Women Artists
National Juried Exhibition
2022 Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO – Oil Painters of America National Juried
Exhibition
* Seascape Award of Excellence
2021 Hilbert Museum of California Art, Orange, CA – California Art Club 110th Annual Gold
Medal Exhibition
2021 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
2020 Booth Museum, Cartersville, GA – Making Their Mark, American Women Artists National
Juried Exhibition (moved online)
2020 Hilbert Museum, Orange, CA – California Art Club 109th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition
(moved online)
2019 Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO – Looking West, American Women Artists
National Juried Exhibition
*Grand Prize
2019 Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA – California Art Club 108th Annual
Gold Medal Exhibition
2019 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
2018 Hockaday Museum of Art, Kalispell, MT – A Timeless Legacy
2018 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, LA, CA – California Art Club 107th
Annual Gold Medal Exhibition
2018 USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA – Painting California: Seascapes & Beach Towns
2018 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
2018 Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY – American Women Artists National Juried
Exhibition, Perspectives of the American Experience
2018 Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO – 27th Annual Oil Painters of America
National Juried Exhibition
2018 Peninsula Museum of Art, Burlingame, CA – Art Between the Lines: Paintings by the
California Art Club
2017 Tucson Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ – American Women Artists National Juried
Exhibition, “Under a Vast Sky”
2017 Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA – California Art Club 106th Annual
Gold Medal Exhibition
2017 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
2016 Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art, Moraga, CA – Reflections in Water: Paintings by the
California Art Club
2016 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
2016 Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA – California Art Club 105th Annual
Gold Medal Exhibition
2015 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
2015 USC Fisher Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA – California Art Club 104th Annual Gold
Medal Exhibition
2014 Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA – California Art Club 103rd Annual
Gold Medal Exhibition
2013 Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Pacific Grove, CA – Central
Coast Landscapes Juried Exhibition
*Best in Show
2013 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA – Artists of Distinction Invitational
Exhibition
2013 USC Fisher Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA – California Art Club 102nd Annual Gold
Medal Exhibition
2013 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA – Annual Art Auction
NATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
2023 Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale, Denver, CO
2023 American Miniatures, Settlers West Galleries, Tucson, AZ
2023 Cowgirl Artists of America / Western Gallery, Wild Flowers Online Exhibition
2023 Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition, Reinert Fine Art, Charleston, SC
2023 Winner, Best Oil, Top 10 Finalist in the Annual Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2022 American Impressionist Society National Juried Exhibition, Mary Williams Fine Art,
Boulder, CO
2022 California Art Club Biennial Exhibition, Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA
*Rick J Delanty Award of Excellence
2022 Winner, Western Category, July Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2022 Winner, Animals Category, June Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2022 Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition, Southwest Gallery, Dallas, TX
2022 Winner, First Place Overall, April Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2022 Winner, Western Category, January Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2022 Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale, Denver, CO
2021 Mountain Oyster Club Contemporary Western Art Show and Sale, Tucson, AZ
2021 Winner, Floral Category, October Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2021 American Impressionist Society Online Exhibition
2021 Winner, Western Category, August Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2021 Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition, Wichita, KS
2021 American Impressionist Society National Juried Exhibition, Omaha, NE
2021 California Art Club, Moments of Joy Online Exhibition
2021 Winner, Western Category, May Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2021 Oil Painters of America Salon Show Juried Exhibition, Gainesville, GA
2021 Winner, Western Category, April Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2021 Winner, Animals Category, April Plein Air Salon from Plein Air Magazine
2021 Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition, Escondido, CA
2021 California Art Club, Renewal & Rebirth Online Exhibition
2021 American Impressionist Society Small Works Showcase, Charleston, SC
2020 Oil Painters of America Online Showcase
2020 California Art Club, Welcome to California Online Exhibition
2020 American Academy of Equine Artists Online Showcase
2020 American Impressionist Society National Juried Exhibition, online
2020 Oil Painters of America Salon Show Juried Exhibition, online
*Honorable Mention
2020 Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition, Saint George, UT
2019 American Impressionist Society National Juried Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC
2019 Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition, Saint George, UT
2019 American Women Artists Show, Fredericksburg, TX
2019 Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM
2019 American Impressionist Society Small Works Showcase, Petoskey, MI
2019 American Academy of Equine Art Open Juried Exhibition, Middleburg, VA
