About Laura Baran
Hi THERE
Laura Baran is an illustrator, event artist, and fine artist based in New York City, Lenape Indigenous People’s territories. Laura uses she/her pronouns. She lives with her husband and son in the Hell’s Kitchen area.
Laura is an award-winning illustrator who works with global brands, creating custom art for marketing, media, public campaigns, books, and more. The Society of Illustrators in New York awarded her the Effie Bowie award for Excellence in Painting.
Laura creates live-drawings at events in the NYC area. Guests leave with hand-made fashion illustrations, pet portraits, or product customizations. She also leads creativity classes and workshops, with a decade of informal art teaching experience.
FINE ARTIST
Laura Baran’s fine art is figurative expressionism drawing on personal subject matter. Exhibitions include New York Fashion Week, The National Arts Club, and Milk Gallery in New York. Her paintings and drawings are part of private collections in the US, UK, and Australia.
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BFA, Illustration
Fashion Institute of Technology, 2010The Illustration Academy
Virginia Commonwealth University, 2002 -
Luxury Brands
La Mer — Louis Vuitton — Monrowe for the Met Gala — Sergio Hudson x Monrowe for New York Fashion Week
Luxury Retailers
Bloomingdale’s — Macy’s — two : minds NYC — Saks Fifth Avenue — Ippolita Boutique Madison Avenue
Hospitality and Travel
The Standard High Line Hotel — Prosper Urban — ZICO Coconut Water
Publishing
Hay House — HarperCollins — Mango — The Nation — 4th Row Films — Mariame Kaba — L. Joy Williams for Sunday Civics on SiriusXM — Balboa Press
New York City Business Improvement Districts
Meatpacking District — The Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance
Other
AT&T — Boris & Horton — Jacadi Paris — NYU Writing Faculty -
The #1 Best Movie Poster of 2014
Time Out New York, 2014
The Effie Bowie Award for Excellence in Painting
Society of Illustrators, New York, NY, 2003
Scholarship to the Illustration Academy
Society of Illustrators, New York, NY, 2003 -
Or Maybe Not Podcast
Co-Host 2025
Get Vote Ready: Your Essential Voting Journal
Paperback by L. Joy Williams, Cover and interior illustrations by Laura Baran 2024
#SundayCivics on SiriusXm
Hosted by L. Joy Williams, Podcast episode 260: “Get Vote Ready” Interview with Laura Baran 2024
The Nation, Scenes of Protest: New York
Illustrations by Laura Baran 2024
The District Tea, Fall Edition
Meatpacking BID, Cover and interior illustrations by Laura Baran 2024
The District Tea, Summer Edition
Meatpacking BID, Cover illustration by Laura Baran 2024
The District Tea, Spring Edition
Meatpacking BID, Cover illustration by Laura Baran 2024
Vogue
Sergio Hudson Spring 2022 Ready-to-Wear (images) 2022
Harper’s Bazaar
The Most Memorable Moments from Day Three of New York Fashion Week (images) 2022
E!
New York Fashion Week Sergio Hudson (images) 2022
The New York Times
Scoring in the Shadow of the Super Bowl: Altuzarra and Sergio Hudson are playing the long game (images) 2022
Elle
The Best Looks From New York Fashion Week (images) 2022
CNN
From Kamala Harris to Beyoncé, Sergio Hudson dresses women in charge (images) 2022
ABC News
Model legends walk Sergio Hudson's NY Fashion Week runway (images) 2022
The Hollywood Reporter
NYFW: Sergio Hudson Debuts Safari-Themed Fall Collection in Pastels (images) 2022
The Bound Brook Chronicle
Hamilton Street Gallery’s Exhibition “Drawing From Life” 2021
Good Food From Far and Wide
Zine by Mariame Kaba (illustrator) 2020
Real Estate Rescue
Mango Publishing (illustrator) 2020
Mantras In Motion
Hay House (illustrator) 2019
Office Magazine
Serving the People of New York 2018
Purple Diary
Lucien Smith & STP “Group Show” Exhibition at Milk Gallery (images) 2018
GEN Magazine
Gene Variant in Amish a Clue to Better Aging (illustrator) 2018
Anyone Who’s Anyone
HarperCollins (illustrator) 2017
Columbia Daily Tribune
Seeing the Light 2017
The New York Times
How to Interview a Celebrity Like a Celebrity (images) 2017
Real Simple
The Best New Books to Read this Month (images) 2017
Vanity Fair
Celebrity Q&A Veteran George Wayne Explains the Difference (images) 2017
Rose’s Summer of Arts & Dreams
Balboa Press (co-author, illustrator) 2016
Time Out New York
The 30 Best Movie Posters of 2014 (work recognized as #1)
Indiewire
Exclusive: Gorgeous Hand-Painted Poster for Robert Greene’s “Actress” 2014
MUBI’s The Notebook
The Best Movie Posters of 2014 (images)
The Playlist
20 Best Movie Posters of 2014 (images)
Slant Magazine
10 Best Movie Posters of 2014 (images)
Apartment Therapy
Allison’s Silver Lake Charmer with a View 2014
The Huffington Post
Bushwick’s Street Art and Trendy Shops Make it the Next Hipster Hotspot in Brooklyn (images) 2014
Columbia Daily Tribune
Works in PS:Gallery’s Winter Exhibit Let Viewers Gaze into Artists’ Process, Personality 2013
Third Place Magazine
(illustrator) 2013
Time Out New York
Dear Bushwick Review (images) 2012
Slush Pile Magazine
Featured artist 2012
Miniature Garden
Book of Houseplants, Printed Matter 2009
Opium Magazine
Interview with Painter Laura Baran 2026
Elle
April 2005 (images) -
Goodbye Summer, Curated by Castro Curates
All Street Gallery, New York, NY 2025
The National Arts Club Roundtable Exhibition AI: Artists Intelligence
The National Arts Club, New York, NY 2025
Materials of Solidarity, Curated by Nadine Fattaleh
Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, New York, NY 2024
The Factory Art Sprinkle
Artist Alley at South Hill, Ithaca, NY 2023
NYFW Sergio Hudson SS22 Featuring Monrowe Collab
New York Fashion Week, Spring Studios, New York, NY 2022
Drawing From Life
Hamilton Street Gallery, Bound Brook, NJ 2021
Self Portrait: Artists Reflect on the Pandemic, Curated by Lucien Smith
Serving the People, online 2020
Celebration
WomensWork.Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY 2020
Cultivate Hell’s Kitchen
MC Gallery, New York, NY 2019
The National Arts Club Roundtable Exhibition
The National Arts Club, New York, NY 2019
Serving The People STP Group Show, Curated by Lucien Smith
Milk Gallery, New York, NY 2018
Talking ‘Bout Art Generation, Curated by Hash Halper
The Bushwick Generator, Brooklyn, NY 2018
As I Am, Curated by Kat Cua
Sager Reeves Gallery, Columbia, MO 2016
August Show
17 Frost Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2016
Fridge Art Fair
Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York, NY 2016
Are You, Are You Not
81 Christopher St, New York, NY 2016
Bushwick Open Studios
Bushwick Studio, Brooklyn, NY 2015
Runners Up Group Exhibition
The Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2015
Winter Grand Salon
The Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2015
Winter Exhibit
Sager Reeves Gallery, Columbia, MO 2013
Art Bazaar
Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY 2009
Everybody, Curated by Ryan Schneider
Envoy Enterprises, New York, NY 2009
We Have Our Musics
Envoy Enterprises, New York, NY 2009
Crooked Mirror
Envoy Enterprises, New York, NY 2007
Summer Seething, Curated by Laura Baran
Envoy Enterprises, New York, NY 2007
ICON3: The Illustration Conference
The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA 2023
Juried Illustrators Academy Student Exhibition
Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA 2023
Student Scholarship Exhibition
Society of Illustrators, New York, NY 2023 -
Arts & Dreams
Co-Founder and Workshop Facilitator since 2009, Fiscally-sponsored NYC Arts Organization
Bees & Watermelons
Volunteer since 2024, Global Mutual Aid Collective
ARTIST STATEMENT
I make autobiographical art
as a healing mechanism. My work contemplates personal identity, experiencing a duality of community and isolation, mirroring the age, and active solidarity with liberation movements.
I respectfully acknowledge the Lenape people and all traditional owners of the territories on which I walk, reside, and create. I pay my respect to all First Nations elders past, present, and emerging.
I harmonize through form and color for social justice and human rights. I imagine reparations for Indigenous peoples and support Land Back. I support Black power and reparations. I believe trans and queer people are sacred. I dream of composting the prison industrial complex, and liberating from — as well as resisting — colonialism, imperialism, and settler occupation.
I stand against oppression anywhere and condemn the Western allies’ exterminations in Gaza, Congo, Sudan, and Yemen. I’m a grandchild of survivors of the Nazi holocaust and daughter of an immigrant. It’s my moral obligation to denounce fascism and genocide. — LB