Mia LaBerge (born 1967,

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

) is an American artist who painted the first Steinway Art Case Piano created to honor a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Biography

A distant descendant of the LaBerges after whom

Lake Laberge Lake Laberge is a widening of the Yukon River north of Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. It is fifty kilometres long and ranges from two to five kilometres wide. Its water is always very cold, and its weather often harsh and suddenly variable. Names ...

was named,

-born Laberge is an

alumna Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

and of

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

.Mia LaBerge, Artist Harrisonburg Va
. Labergeart.com. Retrieved on 2011-09-17. In 2006, LaBerge was commissioned to paint the ''Madison Bluestone'' Art Case Piano which celebrates the hundredth anniversary of James Madison University and also recognizes its status as

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

’s first All-Steinway Music School. The ''Madison Bluestone'' was among the last Art Case pianos with which

Henry Z. Steinway Henry Ziegler Steinway (August 23, 1915 – September 18, 2008) was the last member of the Steinway family to be president of the piano company Steinway & Sons. Biography He was born on August 23, 1915, in Manhattan, New York City. He was ...

(1915–2008), the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

winner and last of the long line of Steinway family members to be president of

Steinway & Sons Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to ...

, had direct involvement. The piano was exhibited in the rotunda of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Steinway Hall Steinway Hall (German: ) is the name of buildings housing concert halls, showrooms and sales departments for Steinway & Sons pianos. The first Steinway Hall was opened in 1866 in New York City. Today, Steinway Halls and are located in cities such ...

and was ceremonially unveiled on stage at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Steinway kept LaBerge unofficially "on call" to paint scenic music stands for the company's ''Madison Century'' series of limited-edition pianos.Artist Mia LaBerge. Press Clippings. News Coverage
Artandjunk.com. Retrieved on 2011-09-17. Circa 1990–2005, LaBerge's oil paintings were primarily realistic or

painterly Painterliness is a concept based on ''german: malerisch'' ('painterly'), a word popularized by Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) to help focus, enrich and standardize the terms being used by art historians of his time to cha ...

-realistic. Her art work from 2006 and later became ever more abstract—finally moving toward nonobjective subject matter. Her paintings have appeared in the

coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and from which it can serve to inspire convers ...

''Virginia's Cattle Story : The First 400 Years'' () and on the cover of youth textbook ''All About You : A Course in Character for Teens'' () . At least one LaBerge painting is in the collection of former US President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

.Carter, Jimmy, Letter to Artist Mia LaBerge, 14 Feb 2008

References

External links

Steinway's "Madison Bluestone Steinway" page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laberge, Mia Living people 1967 births Painters from Minnesota 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American women painters Virginia Commonwealth University alumni James Madison University alumni