Laura Garner Hine

I was raised in the city of Columbia, South Carolina. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a passion for all things odd, strange, old, beautiful, and insignificant (well, depending on whose perspective). I love the visual arts, and always have. My deep-rooted appreciation and passion for the arts has found its voice through numerous media, but the one that resonates with me the most is paint. Oil paint in all its exciteable tangibility- from its long-bearing history to today's modern applications.

I have other loves in my life as well. My family, Fiancee, and friends are a fierce foremost. Also my cat, cups of tea, languages, books, anything antique, history (especially the artistically inclined), fresh canvas, brushes, and tubes of paint, goat cheese, raw pigment, gnocchi with truffle, porchetta paninis, the opera, playing ukulele, orange marmalade and duck eggs. Just to name a few.

After completing my undergraduate program with the University of South Carolina in 2011, I  moved to Groningen, the Netherlands until 2013. I continued with my education by pursuing a Masters program in Restoration of Painting with Accademia Riaci and completed the program in the summer of 2014, and now wish to pursue a professional career in Historical Preservation and Conservation; with a focus in the restoration and conservation of oil paintings as well as frames.


The Degenerate Art Project is a week-long multidisciplinary arts event (July 9–12 at Stormwater Studios) inviting Columbia artists to respond to today's socio-political climate, and unite our local arts community—physically and in spirit—in support and solidarity during challenging times. Inspired by—and reclaiming—the legacy of the Nazi-labeled “Degenerate Art” of 1937, this project champions creative resistance and free expression through a visual art exhibition, featuring over 20 Midlands artists, and one-night-only poetry, community and music events.