Former student is auction artist

Laura Campbell showcased her donated masterpiece at the My Own Two Hands Art Auction at Ponderosa Forge & Iron Works, in Sisters on Saturday, April 12.

Campbell's sculpture "Day Dreamer" sold at the auction for $1,500, with proceeds going to support the Sisters Americana Project.

Campbell has been donating her work since she was a sophomore in high school; this is her sixth year contributing to the fund-raiser. Her first donation piece was a guitar that she created as part of a project assigned by art teacher Mike Baynes.

Ever since she donated that guitar, Campbell has been donating pieces of her captivating art to support the vision of the Sisters Americana Project, which offers cultural and musical education in American roots music in all three Sisters schools.

Campbell's artistic touch added flare to this year's My Own Two Hands Art Auction. The sculpture captures beauty and determination through the eyes of a ballerina looking in a symbolic dance studio mirror crafted from a piece of glass. The sculpture worked with the theme of the event, "Reflection."

Campbell told The Nugget that she had many ideas for this year's theme, but "the ballerina just kept coming back to me."

She displayed both culture and emotion through the face of her ballerina. Campbell acknowledged that the Asian cast to her dancer's features may have crept in from the inspiration of a recent trip to Nepal.

The piece looks like a bronze, but it is actually made of clay and painted with metal paint that makes it look exactly like weathered bronze.

Campbell's artist passion is for throwing clay on the wheel and ceramics.

"I think in 3-D more. I like looking at the whole entire piece.... I like working with my hands a lot, and the whole idea of molding something out of a ball of clay and creating something out of it is just amazing. It's a neat feeling to create something out of dirt," she said.

Campbell has taken a year off from school to create an art studio in Sisters and pursue her dreams of becoming an accomplished artist. She currently helps out at Sisters High School in the ceramics room aiding and inspiring kids on their projects.