BRADENTON – The Village Magazine is a quarterly niche arts & culture publication created by Village of the Arts based business, VMI Media Group. With content pulled from our year-round arts & culture blog at www.TheVillageMagazine.net, The Village Magazine connects arts, artists & creative minded small business owners across the region.
Each issue of The Village Magazine we feature the original work of unique artists in the area. Our cover artist this issue is a badass lady from just over the Skyway. Going by the name Laura Spencer Illustrates, she is part of St. Pete’s young artist’s renaissance.
At age two, she began showing the ability and appreciation for artistic creations. As she puts it, Laura “eats, breathes & sleeps art.” Laura got her start in painting, having taken classes between the ages 6 and 14. She was able to make some money with her painting, but currently is pursuing a totally different style. She has developed a focus on illustration, because in her words, “it all starts with the drawing.”
![]() |
The current cover of The Village magazine by Laura Spencer Illustrates |
During her early years, and the subsequent years at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts Program and Ringling College, to build a strong technical skill set as an artist that she could continue to grow upon.
Laura’s recent projects have included collaborative works at the Blue Lucy show in St. Pete. Along with other artists, she also contributed to the memorial mural dedicated to the late St. Pete artist Bill Woo.
Laura is living and working in the gallery scene, as she continues pursuing new art forms, while collaborating with fellow artists. The situation is not only ideal, but everything she’s always wanted artistically.
Find out more about Laura Spencer at www.LauraSpencerIllustrates.com
What the cover means to Laura in her words:
“This piece was inspired by a Floridian girl's hopes for a chilly winter. I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights, and typically the Aurora Borealis never reaches this far south; so I just wanted to make a little piece for myself.”
Click the link to check out the cover and the latest issue of The Village Magazine.