Laura Catherwood

Laura Catherwood’s mysterious, often mournful paintings and pencil illustrations capture the landscape of her inner world, where fauna, flora and the fantastic coalesce.

Laura left a path of molecular biology research to pursue a life in art, honing her craft at the School of Representational Art and Atelier Eftimov. She began exhibiting in group shows in and around her native Chicago in 2016, making her solo debut two years later with ‘Jalan Jalan,’ presented at Chicago’s Palette and Chisel Art Academy. Laura began showing in group shows at Vertical Gallery with ‘Atomic Number 13’ and ‘Water the Plants!,’ followed in 2022 by ‘Book of Yielding,’ her first solo showcase in our space. The Rashomon-like ‘Hearsay’ followed a year later, unpacking the tale of three animals who returned from a fateful fishing trip with vastly different interpretations of what transpired.

Laura graced Vertical’s main showroom again in 2024 with ‘All Things Stirring,’ a walking tour through her fractured-folklore landscape. “I want to soothe people through my art, and when I’m feeling distressed in my own life, I take walks,” she says. “Walking in nature gets you closest to remembering that you’re just one small part of an interconnected world, and that eventually, you will be re-absorbed into it.” In September 2025, Laura co-headlined ‘The Scenic Route’ opposite Joseph Renda Jr. and Jerome Tiunayan.