Peace & Solitude

Josie Lawrence

After receiving a BFA with a major in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art, Lawrence spent the next 10 years of her summer vacations from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in pursuit of graduate studies in different parts of the world. During one summer, Tom Carr, a professor at the Escola d’Arts Plastique I Disseny in Barcelona, Spain (Barcelona Oldest Art Academy) advised Lawrence, “I can see in your paintings that you like quiet and stillness.” Says Lawrence, “His statement continues to give me pause to reflect. As one of eight children from a family whose parents were born in Italy, I remember the many times I retreated to the room I shared with two sisters to draw in solitude. In fact, this past year during open studios, the wife of a fellow studio artist came up to me and commented, ‘Your art is so peaceful.'” Paintings by Josie Lawrence are held in the JFK Presidential Library and Museum as well as in private and corporate collections throughout the US, Europe and Asia. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in the US, China and Italy with awards annually from juried shows.