The Atelier
LAURA PARKS DOBBS
Within the walls of Studio 23, the atelier is more than a workspace; it is a sanctuary of focus. Here, the dialogue between hand and structure is constant, a rhythmic negotiation of tension and grace informed by five decades of quiet creation. It is a legacy felt through the unseen—the hours of stillness before the first strike, the patience required for a form to reveal its own truth.
Laura Parks Dobbs attended Boston University, the University of New Hampshire, and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture before settling at the Naguib School of Sculpture on the shores of Lake Michigan just outside Chicago. She began her education in the classic style of sculpture as protégé to world-renowned artist and National Master Sculptor of Egypt Mustafa Naguib. Her work consists of all aspects of steel armature construction, clay sculpture, mold making, casting, and finishing. Laura’s works in the United States include commissions of St. Peter and St. Michael the Archangel for the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida; and commissioned work for the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida, and the George C. Young Federal Building and Courthouse in Orlando.
Each work emerges through a process of discipline, material understanding, and quiet observation.