AN INTERVIEW WITH LAURIE

Laurie Windeknecht* is a native desert dweller. As a full-time resident of the Joshua Tree area, she is able to enjoy the beauty of the desert sunsets and the silence of the dark, starlit skies.

*(pronounced “When-da-Connect”)

Laurie began working with watercolors and oil pastels, winning awards throughout her youth. Once in college, Laurie trained privately under Yale graduate and UCLA instructor, Marc Wurmbrand in classical oil painting and acrylic techniques. 

After being diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer (TNBC, BRAC2), and undergoing 2 years of aggressive treatment, Laurie found that in order to physically & emotionally heal, she needed to practice her art. Throughout this journey, she found that her figurative work was becoming more abstract. 

Allowing herself the freedom of painting layer upon layer of shape and color, opened up a whole new form of expression for her.  She feels that once she has expressed herself in one painting, it is done and time to move on to the next. "It's just me on a canvas, at that moment, at that time." All of her works are one-of-a-kind originals and are not reproduced through print or other mediums. 

She is a founding member of Art in the Alley, Redlands, CA; 

a member of The Scottsdale Artists' School, Scottsdale, Arizona; The Borrego Art Institute (BAI), Borrego Springs, CA;

the Artists' Council (AC), Palm Desert, CA;  

& The Hi-Desert Artists, Yucca Valley, CA

Currently, she is working in Acrylic Painting, Encaustic Collage, and Whimsical Papier Mache’ Sculpture.

Her studio, Mojave Studio, is located near Joshua Tree, California.