Board Member
Laurel Duplessis was the Curator of the Art and Artifacts Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from January 1993 until her retirement in March 1996. She is also an artist whose primary medium is printmaking.
Laurel was born and raised in New York City and attended public schools there. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Massachusetts College of Arts and holds a Masters in Museum and Archival Administration from Hampton University.
Laurel Duplessis has taught art humanities and art history at Hampton University and Norfolk State University. For many years, she was the Curator of Art at the Hampton University Museum. She has traveled extensively to Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. She has shown her paintings and prints in many national exhibits including the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC; the Harrison Heritage Museum in Roanoke, VA; the Amber Gallery in Richmond, VA; and the Hampton University Museum. Her trained eye has provided aesthetic creativity and artistic detail in the media packaging of Lake Rawlings.
In July of 2008, Laurel was honored by her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., as the recipient of the prestigious “Keeper of the Flame” Award, which is awarded every two years to a “person who significantly contributes to expanding the growth and culture of the African American experience through the arts and sciences”. Laurel wrote a booklet titled Basic Ideas for Collecting African-American Art while when was recovering from a heart transplant on Easter Sunday in 2006. She uses her art as a vehicle to raise money for many causes, most recently for transplant patients’ anti-rejection medication. She is an inspiration to us all, and a positive role model for transplant patients in need of hope and encouragement.
Laurel is also a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and serves as an advisor to her sorority’s National Board of Directors on art acquisitions.