Laura Youngbird is an artist and art educator. She completed her BFA, MA & BS in Art Education from Minnesota State University Moorhead. The themes in her work originated from experiences her family and particularly her grandmother had while at boarding schools and issues that surrounded their assimilation into non-Indian culture. Laura also explores the influence of Christianity on American Indian spirituality and life views.
She is the former Director of Native American Art Programs at Plains Art Museum in Fargo North Dakota. Laura also taught art at Circle of Nations School in Wahpeton, North Dakota, as an Artist-in-Residence for the North Dakota Council on the Arts and Fargo Public Schools. She currently teaches at Minnesota State University in Moorhead (MSUM).
Laura has received several awards including First People’s Fund — Artist in Business Fellowships in 2018 and 2022, Artist Initiative Grants in 2009 and 2013 from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and a Jerome Fellowship in 2003 to work and study with master potter, Richard Bresnahan at St. John’s University in Minnesota. She also received an Artist in Residence Fellowship from the Institute of American Indian Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico and at MSUM. Laura has her Masters in printmaking and is a practicing artist working in mixed-media drawing, painting, sculpture and ceramics. Her work has been shown in numerous regional and national galleries and exhibitions.