Verve is the Seattle Channel's half-hour showcase of local artists. Each monthly episode of Verve consists of video portraits of three artists. Viewers get a look inside the artists' worlds -- their creative processes, studio and work environments, and thoughts on inspiration.

Featured Artist: Laura Yeats
Designer and woodworker, Laura Yeats uses domestic woods and steel to create sculptural and functional works of art. The designs are simple, modern, and timeless.

In her recent work, Laura transforms dead, diseased, or unwanted trees into fine furniture, bowls and sculptural elements. She seeks inspiration from the piles of logs that surround her studio, a virtual graveyard of Seattle's natural heritage - such as the recently felled Honey Locust trees planted for the 1962 World's Fair. She gives these dead trees new life by finding and revealing their interior character and beauty and turning them into lasting, handcrafted objects. Her work is a available at Urban Hardwoods, and Ornamo.

KOBO at HIGO Show
October 6 through October 26, 2007
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 6, 6 - 8pm

Designer and woodworker, Laura Yeats uses domestic woods and steel to create sculptural and functional works of art. The designs are simple, modern, and timeless.

In her new work, LOCAL WOOD, Laura transforms dead, diseased, or unwanted trees into fine furniture, bowls and sculptural elements. She seeks inspiration from the piles of logs that surround her studio, a virtual graveyard of Seattle's natural heritage - such as the recently felled Honey Locust trees planted for the 1962 World's Fair. She gives these dead trees new life by finding and revealing their interior character and beauty and turning them into lasting, handcrafted objects.

Laura received her formal education in urban design and after many years in city planning, she began seeking other, more tangible ways to bring beauty and quality into the built environment. She immersed herself in woodworking and welding at Pratt Fine Arts Center, and then traveled for intensive study at the College of the Redwoods in California, Penland, in North Carolina, and Haystack in Maine. Last year she completed a one-year woodturning artist residency at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in eastern Tennessee.

New York Times Style Magazine, Travel 2007. May 20, 2007