Laurie Swim is a visual artist and author, whose Works grace many public and private collections, including The American Craft Museum in New York and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax. The Ontario Arts Council awarded her a 2003 Chalmer's Arts Fellowship.

The Canadian Young Workers Memorial Quilt, 9' x 18', honoring 100 young workers killed on the job, completed in 2003, was made over three years with the help of dozens of volunteers from communities across Canada. www.youngworkerquilt.ca/

In 2000, in partnership with COSTI Immigrant Services, Laurie initiated Breaking Ground, The Hogg's Hollow Memorial, 1960, 9" by 20", in remembrance of five young Italian immigrants killed in a tunnel explosion that led to changes in safety regulations in Ontario, and ultimately in Canadian society. Breaking Ground will be installed in 2007 at the York Mills and Yonge subway station, very near the site of the accident.

Laurie moved to Toronto in 1978 from Nova Scotia and established herself as commissioned artist, specializing in large-scale site-specific works. Her clients included the Bank of Nova Scotia, IMAX Corp. and the Hudson Bay Company, as well as individual collectors.

Her first book, The Joy of Quilting with an Introduction by Alex Colville, was published by Viking Canada in 1984. The book, in subsequent hardcover and paperback editions, was also published in the U.S. and Britain and the Commonwealth. She wrote Quilting for Friedman Publishers, New York, another book published in many countries, in 1991.

Having moved to Kingston in 1989, Laurie worked with volunteers to create Pulling Together, 1995, a 9' x 15' quilted fabric mural wall hanging that commemorates the labourers who built the historic Rideau Canal 1826 - 1832. The Kingston and District Labour Council and the Ontario Arts Council sponsored Pulling Together. Its powerful image was also used as a symbol for the 1997 United Way Campaign in Kingston.

Back in Toronto in 1998, Laurie received an award to create York is History, 5 'x 5', a quilt commemorating York’s amalgamation with Toronto. This was done in collaboration with the George Syme Senior Centre and the local Historical Societies. It is now part of the City of Toronto art collection.

Laurie returned to her home town of Lockeport, N.S. during the summer of 2000, to create a memorial art quilt, Lost at Sea, 10' x 10', to commemorate 17 fishermen who perished in 1961. This Millennium art project is on permanent display at the Crescent Beach Centre in Lockeport, Nova Scotia.