About the Artist

Hi, I’m Laura K. Powel. I’m a Mandala artist and former theater production company owner.

In 1998, I rediscovered acting and the theater in my first official acting class at the Actor's Workshop in Boston, MA, where I played numerous roles; completed the Director's Apprenticeship program at the Actor's Workshop, Boston; and worked for three years at Comedy Theater Productions, America's FIRST murder mystery dinner theater, as their Stage & Production Manager.

Before founding Bright Star ProductionZ in 2004, a murder mystery dinner theatre company based in Mexico NY, I owned and operated a consulting business in which I did research, grant writing, and desktop publishing for a number of national aboriginal projects in Canada. In 2003, I was awarded the Certificate of Achievement from the Native Addictions Services Society of Calgary Alberta for my work with the Traditional Pathways Group. In 2009, as one of the original members of the Thunder Hawk Singers, I was nominated for and won a 2009 Best Historical Recording Native American Music Award.

 As the owner of Bright Star ProductionZ, I directed and produced numerous shows in the decade I lived in Oswego County. I founded the Native Circle: Touch the Earth Day, an annual festival held in Mexico NY; taught workshops on Native American Animal Totems in both Canada and the US; and taught Basic Acting Processes at Binghamton University, while earning my master’s degree in Theatre.

After foraying into the corporate world for the past 12 years, in the midst of lockdowns four years ago, I stumbled across dot-painting and picked up my first dotting tool. On many levels, it feels like returning to my roots of theater and all things Native America, this time through the lens of meditative art practices.