Fleeting: An Exhibition of Artists from Torpedo Factory Art Center Celebrating Cherry Blossoms

Juror/curator: Laurel Lukaszewski

Laurel is a Maryland-based artist (Gateway Arts District in Mt. Rainier, MD) who creates installations and sculptures primarily from clay. Her work is influenced by an appreciation of rhythms and patterns found in nature, her study of Japanese art and culture, and work with Japan over the past three decades while promoting U.S.-Japan grassroots exchange, for which she was awarded the Foreign Minister’s Commendation by the Government of Japan in 2016.

Laurel currently serves on the Artist Advisory Committee for IA&A at Hillyer and the boards of the National Cherry Blossom Festival as an Emeritus Board Member and the U.S. Japan Exchange & Teaching Programme Alumni Association (USJETAA) Executive Committee. The National Cherry Blossom Festival selected her to create this years 2025 lapel pins.

Laurel has shown her ceramic sculpture throughout the US and abroad with solo exhibitions in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as Huntsville, AL, St. Louis, MO, Tulsa, OK, and Bainbridge Island, WA. She has participated in group exhibitions and art fairs in DC, Miami, Palm Beach, New York, Chicago and the UK. In 2015, she exhibited at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as part of the U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies Program. In 2021, Laurel was a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Arts Award Recipient. She received a MSAC Grants for Artists in 2023, and a MSAC Creativity Grant in 2025. She was selected to design the Official National Cherry Blossom Festival Collectible Lapel Pin for the 2025 Festival. Laurel’s work is in numerous private and corporate collections including NIH, Hickok Cole, The Hotel College Park, The Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner, University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center, Largo, MD and Dollar Tree Corporate Headquarters, Chesapeake, VA. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Home & Design, American Craft Magazine, Washington City Paper, Riverfront Times, The Virginian-Pilot, Veer Magazine, and others. Laurel’s studio is in the Gateway Arts District in Mt. Rainier, MD.