About the Artist


Tall pines. Lonely peaks. Exquisite birds. The artwork of Laura G. Young is steeped in the rich mountain worlds she grew up in. A seventh-generation West Virginian, she has called Fort Collins, Colorado her home since she was nine years old.

“Watercolor, especially transparent watercolor, is my first love and medium of choice,” Young says, “but recently I’ve found myself re-discovering the messy joys of charcoal — as a kid I’d draw with lumps of forbidden coal that would fall from the trains that rumbled just a scant few yards from our house.”

Initially dissuaded from an art career due to her impaired color vision (considered rare in women) Young instead majored in Russian and East-Central European Studies at Colorado State and taught English in the newly-formed country of Uzbekistan. After a sudden shift in geo-politics she returned to Colorado — and to art.

Over the next decade, Young determined to overcome her challenges with color via extensive study and experimentation, as well as painting landscapes directly from life.

Her work now hangs in private collections across the country with top awards from various organizations, including the Susan K. Black Foundation.  Her watercolors are particularly noted for their skill and have been exhibited in the PAAC National Shows in Boulder, Grand Lake and Taos, New Mexico; the Vida Ellison Gallery in Denver, and the Keimig Gallery of Western Art in Wyoming. Currently she has works available for purchase in the Lincoln Gallery in Loveland, Colorado as well as her new studio space in 3 Square Gallery in Fort Collins.

Young feels that her upbringing in both small town Appalachia and the rapidly developing West have informed her art in ways that might not have happened otherwise.

"I'm especially interested in areas of transition and how we, as humans, are adding or detracting from the natural beauty around us. Making art is my way of slowing down and purposefully appreciating the things that are often overlooked in the hurried pace of our day-to-day lives,” she says. “By doing so, I hope to share this appreciation with others.”