Laura Griffith was born with an artistic nature. Her early life in New York was enriched by that city’s great cultural institutions. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin as an English major; however, her favorite classes were art history. After a year of study in Paris, she spent two years teaching first graders in Manhattan where she found special pleasure in presenting art to those youngsters.

She then moved to the West Coast to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts (summa cum laude) from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. Up to this point, Laura had always been accustomed to urban life, but the need for studio space prompted her to move to the countryside of Sonoma. She found a suitable location adjoining a chardonnay vineyard, and there she built her studio and planted a small orchard.

The orchard proved to be a source of inspiration. In the past, Laura had been attracted to classical still life painting - compositions of flowers, fruit, vases, and other artifacts. As she mastered technique, her style evolved. She found the fruit itself, with its intricate shadow, reflection and light, to be the essence of her vision. The pears, apples and persimmons from her orchard had much more personality than those from the supermarket, and Laura focused on drawing out their elegance and drama. With the spotlight on the fruit, the artificial objects became extraneous.

As her aesthetic emphasized the fruit, the scale of the paintings increased, and the backdrops darkened, to create a suitable stage for the lively images to perform.

Laura Griffith's elegant oil paintings hang in major collections around the world.