Laurie Campbell -

I have always had a strong interest in portraying urban life, and am fascinated by an architecture of urban life that includes corner stores, taverns, historical downtown business districts. The architectures of the past that are still with us in the present, and represent some of our heritage are likewise changing. My paintings document what we often do not notice as we go about our daily routine. The environments of architecture, public space, and people are always there, but largely unobserved. These urban sites and spaces play such a major role in our maintaining a sense of place, and give us a sense of security in knowing that other peoples lived in the past amid these same architectural settings of city life.

With every new year modern structures replace the neglected storefronts and landmarks of years past. As a city changes so does our collective memory of what these places are. In capturing people in their daily activities of walking down a city street, dressed for the occasion, I give a sense of people of our times being in these places, and whose lives take place amid a historical context that is the living, ever evolving cityscape.

Each of us gets a sense of beauty and comfort from being in the everyday, a reality that surround us and likewise carries a cadence of the past, not ours, but of decades ago. These urban landmarks, often overlooked, capture a part of our heritage, something I would like to share with all of you through my paintings.