Born and raised in Pasadena CA, Tom won a scholarship to attend The Chouinard Art Institute in 1938, and after serving in WWII, attended The Jepson Art Institute.  While still a student at Chouinard, the renowned Rico Lebrun asked that Tom be his teaching assistant. As he created his own prolific body of work, Tom became a respected instructor himself, helming classes at Chouinard, Jepson, and The Pasadena Art Museum. During his time at Chouinard and Jepson, life-long friendships were forged with not only Rico Lebrun, but also with Frederick Hammersley, Ernest Lacy, Janet Turner, Bill Brice and Roger Hollenbeck, as well as many other innovative Los Angeles-based artists.

 

"Over the course of his creative life (1930's-1970's) he painted, printed serigraphs, built collage, and cast acrylic sculptures.  In serigraphy, Laursen constantly experimented toward obtaining a richer pictorial impression through color, transparencies, and linear structure.  He is said to have been primarily concerned with multi-layered images that make use of clarity, ambiguity, paradox, and the resulting interplay created by the ideas that arise.  In sculpture, Laursen made use of experimental technique and the relatively new medium of acrylic casting, creating encapsulated futuristic environments." *   

 

Between 1948-1978, Tom's work has been exhibited in numerous museum, university, and gallery shows including The Denver Museum of Art, The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Frank Perls Gallery, The Library of Congress, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Seattle Museum of Art, The LA County Museum of Art, The Laguna Art Museum, The US National Gallery, The Smithsonian, and more.

 

Tom was married to Patti Laursen (1927-2013), internationally renowned classical music producer at Capitol Records.  

 

* Katie Nartonis