Miss Crit [Laura Spencer] is an Illustrator born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. With a style that is a little bit spooky and a little bit psychedelic, Miss Crit designs with her third-eye wide open. She brings together traditional fine art techniques, narrative storytelling devices, and digital design technology to craft quaint and quirky illustrations. From drawings, paintings, and murals, to interactive installations and collaborations, Miss Crit aims to entrance and transform her audience – and through their experience, they become the narrators of their own stories.
Having started formal art training at a young age, Miss Crit pursued an education in the Arts – she attended Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School (St. Pete, FL) with a major in Visual Arts and graduated in 2007. She found her way to Ringling College of Art + Design (Sarasota, FL) to study Illustration and graduated as a Trustee Scholar in 2011. During her time at Ringling, Miss Crit traveled to Antwerp, Belgium on a semester-long foreign exchange program with the Sint Lucas Antwerpen – Studio illustratie school.
In her pursuit to make art and design a lifelong career, Miss Crit continues to seek artistic opportunities, participate in gallery exhibits, and produce large-scale public art projects. Previous work experience includes: Sales Associate for Central Art Supply Company/ The Art Supply Store in St. Pete, FL (2010-2014), Art Director for Bealls Department Stores in Bradenton, FL (2014-2016), and Illustrator for the Exhibit Design firm – Creative Arts Unlimited, Inc. – in Pinellas Park, FL (2016-2021).
As of August 2021, Miss Crit is a full-time Artist and Illustrator, and has started the Design + Fabrication firm – Artonomy, LLC – with her partner (former Ringling grad) George Retkes. She continues to create strange and unusual art, while living in a creaky old witch house with her black cat and hordes of art supplies.
Select projects include: Installation Artist for the Suwannee Hulaween Music Festival (2016, 2017, 2018); Creative Pinellas 2019 Emerging Artist Grantee; Participant in the Black Lives Matter Street Mural (Letter “I”) at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum (2020); Muralist for the SHINE 7 Mural Festival (2021); Creative Director for the non-profit organization For Henry (2021); and Muralist for the Lealman Mural Project at the Mother Kombucha Warehouse (2022).
