Laura Bean is a painter who paints women's dresses, and who has recently begun to paint mannequins. Bean says, "For as long as I can remember, clothing and specifically dresses have held much significance for me . . . dresses have become my guides in the darkness, transcending the here and now and entering the realms of our collective pasts and futures. . . Recently I have been painting mannequins without dresses. Perhaps mannequins are even more beautiful for their strength as they stand exposed, vulnerable and unafraid." Bean has studied art at George Washington University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She has shown her work at the First Expressions Gallery in Boston, the Hanson Gallery in Wellfleet, MA, and the Artana Gallery in Framingham, MA. She has been published in both Arts Media and The Boston Globe. Her work is in the private collections of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wayne of Weston, MA, Mr. and Mrs. Barry Tatelman of Boston, and Dr. and & Mrs. Stuart Rosenthal of Wayland, MA.