Sarah White taps Laurel Hausler

Right on the heels of me getting all excited about Maggie Taylor's artwork appearing on the cover of Shawn Colvin's new album, "These Four Walls," Laura and I get word from one of our very favorite local artists, Laurel Hausler, that her artwork will grace the cover of Virginia based singer-songwriter Sarah White's new album, "Sweetheart" (buy it here). It’s been 20 years since I’ve gotten excited about album cover art, and now I get a two-fer in a matter of days. Cool.

Sarah's talent for songwriting recently received national accolades at the 2007 Mountain Stage New Song Contest where she won Best Song for "Sweetheart." For those of you who missed Sarah's performance last month at the filled-to-the-brim Gravity Lounge here in C'ville, she will be performing tonight (Nov 14) at Frye Springs Beach Club, and again in Richmond at The Camel on November 20.

As for Laurel… She has been tearing up the visual arts scene lately. Most recently, she had an exceptional solo show at the Nevin Kelly Gallery in DC called "A History of Dogs and Witches." In it, Laurel got to show off her newest series of paintings, ink and watercolor drawings, sculptures and other works – all of which have been described as erudite, evil, haunting, mysterious, beautiful and charming (read an interview of Laurel in the DCist here). Prior to the Nevin Kelly show, Laurel exhibited in the main gallery of the Gallery in the Woods in Brattleboro, Vermont. We also saw Laurel's paintings exhibited in New York at the Affordable Art Fair this past June.

Collaborations like these are win/win/win situations: When the visual arts and the musical arts come together, the painter wins, the musician wins, and the audience wins.

Comments

[Michael Fitts]

I purchased a painting of Laurel's a few years ago in c-ville for around $50. It's a dark death bed scene painted on a large cookie sheet. It's cool to see that she's doing well.