Phoenix Artist Laura Spalding Best: 100 Creatives

Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city’s creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year’s Best of Phoenix issue, we’re profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 22. Laura Spalding Best.

Laura Spalding Best lives for landscapes. But they’re not your typical rolling hills and happy trees.

The ASU alum and painter is known for her portrayals of urban settings, incorporating such elements as utility poles, traffic signage, and streetscapes into her works. In 2014, Best has shown a solo exhibition, presented by Halt Gallery and titled “7th Street to 7th Avenue,” at Hot Box Gallery, on which she painted an accompanying mural, Mirage.

See also: Jorge Torres of Phoenix’s Palabra Collective: 100 Creatives

Last year Best, who works as the exhibitions manager at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, won a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant to further support her creative endeavors, which currently include a series of mirage landscapes of downtown Phoenix, preparing for an upcoming solo show, and developing a proposal for a multi-building mural series.

And that’s keeping her every bit as busy as you might imagine.

“My average day is full of my family and work,” the 33-year-old Garfield neighborhood resident says. “On a good day I have a little time for myself in the evening to plan or make my art.”

I came to Phoenix in 1999 with a scholarship to ASU and the desire to get out of Illinois.

I make art because it has always been what I am best at and what challenges me the most.

I’m most productive when I’m ready to make art. Every artist has a different process to their work, I am the type that needs to sit with ideas and concepts and let them form for a long time before I execute them. Once the concept is clear in my mind I will make several paintings in a short, intense period of time.

Deadlines are good, too.

My inspiration wall is full of I don’t have one of those. My inspiration comes from moments in my daily life. I might find inspiration during a drive to work, or while making up stories with my daughter, or overhearing someone else’s conversation at lunch, or while taking the time to enjoy an Arizona sunset. No matter what I am actually doing, the back of my mind is always trying to solve a problem or come up with the next thing to pursue.

I’ve learned most from installing other artists’ work. The last eight years working in a museum have changed the way I look at my own work. Helping artists and curators realize their vision has made my own vision more clear. It’s also given me a better understanding of the relationship of the viewer and the artwork and the relationship of the artwork and the space it occupies. This is how I’ve come to look at my paintings as installation art and not solitary images bound to standard stretched canvases.

Good work should always be memorable. I’m always looking for dynamism in artwork, whether it is in the composition, content, or a single brushstroke. Good artwork will always leave an impression on you.

The Phoenix creative scene could use more commitment. There are so many great, committed, innovative, stubborn, hard-working people and organizations here already. In order to build on that foundation and support its expansion everyone, creatives and creative supporters, needs to be all in.

See the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives:

100. Bill Dambrova
99. Niki Blaker
98. Jeff Slim
97. Beth May
96. Doug Bell
95. Daniel Langhans
94. Nanibaa Beck
93. Nicole Royse
92. Ib Andersen
91. Casandra Hernandez
90. Chris Reed
89. Shelby Maticic
88. Olivia Timmons
87. Courtney Price
86. Travis Mills
85. Catrina Kahler
84. Angel Castro
83. Cole Reed
82. Lisa Albinger
81. Larry Madrigal
80. Julieta Felix
79. Lauren Strohacker
78. Levi Christiansen
77. Thomas Porter
76. Carrie Leigh Hobson
75. Cody Carpenter
74. Jon Jenkins
73. Aurelie Flores
72. Michelle Ponce
71. Devin Fleenor
70. Noelle Martinez
69. Bucky Miller
68. Liliana Gomez
67. Jake Friedman
66. Clarita Lulić
65. Randy Murray
64. Mo Neuharth
63. Jeremy Hamman
62. La Muñeca
61. Kevin Goldman
60. Emily Costello
59. Kerstin Dale
58. Vara Ayanna
57. Nathaniel Lewis
56. Ruben Gonzales
55. Lisa Poje
54. Bobby Zokaites
53. Frances Smith Cohen
52. Julie Rada
51. David Miller
50. Xanthia Walker
49. Kyllan Maney
48. Cary Truelick
47. Constance McBride
46. James D. Porter
45. Allyson Boggess
44. Abigail Lynch
43. Ashley Cooper
42. Jaclyn Roessel
41. Brandon Boetto
40. Melissa Dunmore
39. Gavin Sisson
38. Rossitza Todorova
37. Monica Robles
36. Josh Kirby
35. Jesse Perry
34. Yai Cecream
33. Nathan Blackwell
32. Carley Conder
31. Ben Willis
30. Nicole Michieli
29. Brian Cresson
28. Tyson Krank
27. Mikey Estes
26. Anwar Newton
25. Sarah “Saza” Dimmick
24. Tato Caraveo
23. Jorge Torres

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