Laura Thomas Makes Art That Hurts—And Heals

Laura Thomas Makes Art That Hurts—And Heals
Chalk artist Laura Thomas takes a selfie in front of her portrait-based street painting during a public chalk art festival in Florida. Her vivid, large-scale work blends realism with bold color and emotional resonance. (Photo courtesy of Laura Thomas)

By Avery Anderson

Let’s start with the obvious: Laura Thomas makes beautiful things. Her murals explode with color and emotion. Her chalk art breathes on asphalt and disappears with the rain. And yet, she’s the first to tell you—this isn’t just about aesthetics.

“It can truly be physically and or emotionally exhausting creating a piece of art,” Thomas says. “With chalk art, I do feel it is probably one of the most painful forms of art to create. I’m on the ground, usually cooking in the sun and dealing with extremely hot pavement… there’s a level of strain and pain on the legs, knees and back that you don’t get doing other forms of art.”

A chalk artwork by Laura Thomas features a colorful crab holding a protest sign reading “Should I Be Worried?” beside a boiling pot of butter, as a passerby playfully mimics adding butter to the pot. The piece was part of a public chalk art festival in Florida. (Photo courtesy of Laura Thomas)

And that’s before you account for the emotional labor.

Thomas, who lives and works in the Tampa Bay area, is one of those rare artists whose work doesn’t just show you something—it makes you feel something. Her latest mural is no exception. “I was inspired to create something that wasn’t just a beautiful portrait,” she explains, “but that also portrayed a level of emotion and wonderment. I wanted the person looking at her to wonder what she’s thinking, what she’s feeling.”

It’s that emotional clarity—call it softness, call it depth—that runs through all of Thomas’ work, even when the surfaces couldn’t be more different. Murals and chalk: each medium has its own lifespan, its own context, its own demands. But for Thomas, it’s all connected.

“Honestly, creating art itself, in any medium, feels like home to me,” she says. “Styles and design layouts I’m used to doing in one medium I will often see similar elements of in other mediums… I love learning everything I can in one medium because I know it may somehow play a role in another type of medium I am doing down the road.”

That adaptability isn’t just a skill—it’s a philosophy. Thomas calls herself “100% the definition of a Libra,” constantly seeking balance between permanence and impermanence. Chalk art washes away in days. Murals live somewhere in the middle. And yet, she’s learned to love the letting go.

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