Terri D. Symington Laki

Artist and Creator of RBF Gallery

Terri's artistic journey emerges from movement and form, first cultivated through her years as a dancer with a Houston ballet/jazz company. Her current work focuses on impressionistic figurative paintings that capture the fluidity and expression she first discovered through dance. This evolution from performance to visual art reflects her core artistic philosophy: making the invisible visible through creative expression.

Working primarily in oils and mixed media, Terri's work embraces the beauty of human imperfection. Her paintings deliberately reveal underlying construction lines and intentionally unfinished areas, reflecting our perpetual state of becoming. Like the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is mended with gold to honor its history, her work celebrates how human experiences – both challenges and triumphs – create our unique beauty. This philosophy manifests in her impressionistic style, where visible brushstrokes and thoughtfully incomplete elements invite viewers to engage with the artwork's evolving narrative, much like their own.

Her technique combines classical training with intuitive approaches, resulting in work that bridges figurative-realism and impressionism. The human form serves as her primary subject, allowing her to investigate themes of visibility, movement, and self-expression.

Her artistic credentials span multiple creative disciplines, including roles as a fashion illustrator and art director for a prominent fashion/home furnishings company and an award-winning interior designer and Professional member of ASID. From all these careers she brings a sophisticated understanding of space, color, and composition to her current work.

Recent recognition includes participation in the group show “Seductions” at the Texas Woodlands Glade Gallery 2022,  as well as a group show “Painting the Figure Now” at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art in 2021, and Artsy's 2018 "The New Nude" exhibition and publication in "PoetsArtists." She is represented in 33 Contemporary gallery's roster of curated artists through which she will have artwork included in the Lunar Codex project that puts artists’ work in the moon.  She has been featured in Artsy Shark online art magazine, as well as a featured artist in the art and literature journal ArtAscent.  Previously, she maintained studios in Switzerland and Houston before relocating to her current base in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

One of Terri's desires and ambitions was always to share her knowledge and experience to help elevate the journey of others. Her unique perspective on how one creates their own environments and life experiences was a perception she held since childhood. That perspective on life, along with a broad range of experiences and curiosity and interests is what brought to fruition the RBF Gallery with the belief that art is the fuel that makes all aspects of life so fascinating — and that it is within reach for all humans to embrace, given the right mindset and awareness.

Through RBF Gallery, Terri creates a space where artistic expression transcends traditional boundaries, inviting viewers to reconsider their relationship with art and its place in everyday life. The gallery champions the vital importance of critical and independent thinking, while simultaneously nurturing an open and inquiring mind — a delicate balance that Terri believes is essential for genuine artistic appreciation and personal growth. By curating experiences that challenge conventional thinking, she encourages visitors to question established narratives, form their own conclusions, and remain receptive to new ideas and perspectives. This approach reflects Terri's conviction that true creativity flourishes at the intersection of rigorous intellectual inquiry and boundless curiosity about the world around us and that a person can manifest the life they desire through artful living, given that the right mindset is practiced and lived.