Laurie Denbrock

Laurie Denbrock creates from the heart—with color, clay, and movement woven into every piece. Born in Wisconsin, raised in Indianapolis, and a Tennessee resident for over 25 years, Laurie’s life has been shaped by a deep calling to create and to teach.

Her 25-year career teaching K–12 art included everything from local and regional student contests to public displays in children’s museums and malls, plus stage productions, murals, and VBS sets—not to mention the daily joys and challenges of classroom teaching.

Laurie’s artistic journey has always been about more than the final piece—it’s about sharing the creative experience. That passion led her to open her private teaching studio, The Little Artist Studio, in Memphis in 2000. The studio later moved to Jackson, where in 2010, she met watercolorist Mary Spellings. Connected by shared faith and vision, the two co-founded Art in the Village, a cooperative gallery that remains a cornerstone of Jackson’s art community today.

Though Laurie has taught every medium over the years, her personal focus centers on ceramics and figurative painting. She especially loves throwing pots on the wheel and capturing the grace of dancers in motion. Her dancer series features a challenging fluid-pour technique that echoes the rhythm and movement of the human body—a reflection of her lifelong love of dance, from ballet to ballroom.

Inspired by God’s creation, the human form, and artists like Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas, Laurie’s work ranges from landscapes and portraits to expressive abstracts. She creates in two home studios—one for painting, one for clay—allowing her the freedom to move between projects and explore different forms of expression.

Laurie’s work has been exhibited throughout her life and now has a permanent home at Art in the Village. Her greatest joy comes from the act of creation itself—the idea that any moment, any medium, might become something meaningful and lasting.

“A body of work is the most telling of an artist. For me, each piece begins in passion—and becomes a chance to stir something in the viewer.”