Laurie McGaw’s passion for capturing the human face has defined her career spanning five decades. She is an alumna of the Ontario College of Art  (now OCADU) where she was also an instructor for seven years. She honed her design skills in her early career as a layout artist, illustrator, and production designer for advertising agencies and magazines, including Chatelaine, where she was exposed to Canada’s great illustrators. She went on to study art history in Florence and Rome, and eventually studied under the acclaimed American portraitist Daniel Greene. 

She has completed 80 commissioned works ranging from informal personal portraits to official portraits that hang in such places as the University of Toronto and the Law Society of Upper Canada. The list of renowned Canadians she has painted includes Oscar Peterson, David Suzuki, Norman Jewison, Robert Munsch, Thomas King, Peter Gzowski, Elvis Stojko, and Silken Laumann, among many others. Her timeless, realistic style has also earned her a stellar reputation as a picture book artist, and designer of coins for the Royal Canadian Mint, with 14 books and 35 coin designs to her credit.

Laurie’s studio is located in a repurposed brick stable in the historic downtown where she completes commissioned portraits and holds weekly sessions with live models for other Guelph artists. She continues to grow and evolve as an artist through these collaborations and by organizing group painting excursions around the world, including Costa Rica, Italy, and India.