Laura Whitmer, a 2003 graduate of Alleghany High School, has been accepted to attend The Florence Academy of the Art in Florence, Italy to pursue her master of art in studio art program.
Laura is married to Chad Whitmer, a 2002 graduate from AHS. Chad is from Harrisonburg, and he attended Boys’ Home of Virginia while going to AHS. Both Chad and Laura are currently employed by Boys’ Home of Virginia.
“I applied for the program (in Florence) and sent them my portfolio,” Laura remarked.
The very next day, thanks to her application via the internet, Laura received confirmation that she had been accepted along with a congratulatory note.
She recalled, “They accepted me and congratulated me for being accepted into their program.”
The program will require Laura to spend six weeks in Florence, Italy, beginning the summer of 2022 plus six weeks for the following two summers.
Laura said, “I will be studying the classical method of drawing and painting.”
Chad and Laura were married on July 22, 2006, and they have three children. Savannah was born in 2009, David in 2013 and Sarah-Elizabeth in 2020.
Because of the children, the six-weeks-study program out of the country will be challenging, and Laura will rely on her mother and Chad to meet her children’s needs while she is abroad.
“I may be able to study by virtual learning after the first six weeks in Florence,” Laura revealed.
Laura began working at Boys’ Home of Virginia on March 27, 2007, as a house parent, a job that requires one to live in a cottage at Boys’ Home and supervise eight or nine students, providing daily discipline while tending to their educational needs.
After Chad returned from Kosovo where he had been deployed for 18 months on a peacekeeping mission with the National Guard of Lexington where he served with the Bravo Company of the 116th Regiment, he too was hired by Boys’ Home of Virginia as a house parent.
Since then, the couple has held various positions there, and currently, Chad is the school’s associate director.
As for her interest in art, Laura recalled, “Ever since I was a child, I enjoyed sitting on the couch drawing.”
However, her formal studies after taking an art class at AHS, did not provide her with instruction in art. She graduated from Liberty University in 2007 with her bachelor’s of science degree in Biblical studies and sociology.
By 2017, Laura had earned her master’s degree in human services/church ministries from LU. Now she works as an art teacher and an advisor for at risk youth at Boys’ Home of Virginia.
Laura reminisced, “While I was attending Liberty, a girl named Holly in our dorm would paint in her dorm room, and that definitely could have been a seed.”
Her dream of becoming a professional artist is already coming true in that she has been commissioned to paint murals and private paintings.
One such painting of “Old Glory” can be viewed from I-64 on the barn at Kaylynn Farm adjacent to the Memorial Park in Alleghany County.
Laura began her studies of Atelier training two years ago, and she has completed a 5’11” mural in a private home in addition to the American flag on the barn, an assignment that required her to erect a scaffold and use a ladder to complete the flag that is highly visible to travelers on I-64.
Additionally, she was recently commissioned to paint the barracks at VMI.
Currently, Laura is not represented by an art gallery, but she has sold several paintings and participated in the Taubman Museum Fine Art Show in Roanoke and the Shenandoah Valley Fine Art Show in Waynesboro.
Despite holding down a fulltime job while being the mother of three young children, Laura finds time to pursue her career as an artist.
As for her role at Boys’ Home of Virginia, Laura observed, “We’ve moved around a lot at Boys’ Home, serving in different capacities.”
Having been married for 16 years and having worked at Boys’ Home of Virginia for 15 years, Laura only recently began focusing on her art.
She remembered, “In my free time I would draw, but in 2017, I started to study art and pursue it.”
Since then, she has painted seascapes, landscapes, portraits, animals and people.
Laura has been developing her skill as an artist by painting with oil, and she has completed a number of drawings using charcoal and graphite.
Since her teenage years, Laura has had a strong faith in God, and she is trusting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior to guide her in her pursuit of art.
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