“For the past thirty years or so my ideas come from historic sites such as monuments, temples, and shrines. They are generally architectural in nature. Working from these structures or their accessories, I created work that is minimal in nature, and evokes a meditative response from the viewer. It does not have religious intent, but evolves from a hidden ritual that is surrounded by the sense that it is holy or sacred.”

LaVerdier studied at the Art Students League from 1965 to 1967. He was a monk and resident artist at St. Martin’s Abbey in Wash-ington State from 1955 to 1969. He has taught at Skidmore College, Rochster Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University, New York University, Greenwhich House Pottery, Claremont Graduate Schools and the Universi-ty of Gorgia in Catona Italy, and is currently an adjunct instruc-tor at SUNY Adirondack located in Queensbury, NY. LaVerdier received Artist’s Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1976 and 1990 and an Individual Artist’s Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 1987.