M ARBLEHEAD — Like a quilter, Laura Petrovich-Cheney makes patterns from old scraps, and her works hint at personal histories. But instead of fabric, she uses wood from homes destroyed by Hurricane Sandy , or from an old church in Groton, or that she found on the road walking her dog. She’s featured in “Stitching the Revolution: Quilts as Agents of Change” at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Conn.
, this summer. Where to find her : www.lauracheney.
com Age : 56 Making a living : Petrovich-Cheney earns her keep as an artist, selling pieces as small as 4 square inches for $30; larger ones up to 5 square feet are $10,000-$15,000. Ray Wiggs Gallery in Provincetown has her work up all summer. She also teaches art at Johnson Elementary School in Nahant one day a week.
Advertisement “There’s nothing more exciting in the world than teaching little kids how to draw, to give them that confidence to express themselves,” she said. Originally from : Philadelphia Lives in : Marblehead Studio : Above her garage. The home’s previous owner had a gymnast daughter.
“He turned this into the gymnasium. It’s got a real heavy-duty floor, because she had all kinds of equipment in here,” Petrovich-Cheney said. The floor came in handy, and now supports the artist’s bandsaw, miter saw, drill press, and more.
How she started : Petrovich-Cheney got her first master’s degree from Drexel University, in fashion design in 1993. She received a second one at Philadelphia’s Moore Col.
