Art+-+Laurel+Burch

We have been learning about the art of Laurel Burch. Laurel Burch was born in California in America. She had a very tough home life and left home when she was 14 years old. All she took with her was a paper bag of clothes. She was also very sick with a rare bone disease osteopetrosis. She did cooking, cleaning and baby-sitting in return for places to stay. She had no job and no money when she arrived in San Francisco.

Laurel taught herself to paint. She loved to paint about the earth and living things and bringing different cultures together. She was a prolific painter - even when she was so sick she had to paint from her bed or a wheelchair, she never stopped making beautiful artworks. She said “I refuse to have anything in my life that I can’t turn into something magical and beautiful”. She liked to paint for a lot of charities, designing book covers, posters and murals to help causes important to her.

Sadly, Laurel died on September 13, 2007 from complications from osteopetrosis.