Janet Laird-Lagassee, AWS, NWS, NEWS, SAA, MAA, NEWS, WW

Janet Laird-Legassee is a Maine native, a resident of Auburn. Laird studied at the Portland School of Art, Portland, Maine from 1967 to 1969, and has continued lifelong learning throughout self-directed study. Laird paints in full size and in miniature, working in watercolor, egg tempera, and graphite. She is primarily a studio painter, her work centering on several recurring themes.

Laird has done workshops and has done speaking engagements for art societies. Laird contributed to the creation of the book Modern Masters of Miniature by Wes Siegrist, MAA. She was a judge for the Bangor State Fair art competitions in 1989 and 1990, and show juror for the premiere Mount Washington Valley Art Association Miniature Art Show, North Conway, New Hampshire in 2000. As Treasurer and Board Member for the Miniature Artist of America, she has actively contributed to the updating of society by-laws and to society programs. In addition to her fine art work, she has done commercial artwork, particularly business letterheads and logos, brochures, program covers, and music method book covers.

Laird is included in the book Modern Masters of Miniature Art in America by Wes Siegrist. One of Laird’s miniatures was included in The Miniature Artists Birthday Book, a unique, leather-bound museum piece created by Jane Blake, MAA, RMS. Laird’s work has been published in Equine Images Magazine, Apri/May 1996, Vol.II, No.2; in The Best of Watercolor: Painting Color (1997), The Best of Watercolor Three (1999), and The Collected Best of Watercolor (2002). She has also been featured in a Miniature Art Society catalog and a number of art magazines.

Laird’s work has been shown across the United States, in Canada, Tasmania, Australia, England, Russia, Japan, Bangladesh, and South Africa.

Laird’s work is in the Miniature Art Society of Florida Permanent Collection the Georgia Miniature Art Society Permanent Collection, the International Museum of Miniature Art, The Hague, The Netherlands, and the Springield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri, Her work is also in corporate collections, and in private collections throughout the USA as well as in Canada, South Africa, Australia, and Tasmania.