The Middlesex community is fortunate to welcome artist Elizabeth Awalt to the Ayer Wood Gallery in November and December. Her Studio Lab is a unique opportunity to see an artist in process. Students will have the opportunity to draw, paint, and make cyanotypes with her, and observe and learn from her process.
Artist Statement
I’ve lived on an island in Maine for twenty-five summers where I have the privilege to observe and paint the sea, tide pools, ledges, and woods. On the island I’m captivated by the wide horizon, clear light, sparkling water and the micro world of the jewel-toned tide pools. Daily walks down the rocky beach lead to collecting what has washed up the previous evening and these objects are used to create cyanotypes, prints and installations.
My project, “Studio Lab”, will transform the Ayer Wood Gallery into my studio where I will spend the month of November as a Visiting Artist. In the gallery I will create a unique installation based on my island observations and materials. Through discussion and collaboration with art classes, students will learn that the art process is similar to that in a science lab. An artist, like a scientist, begins with an observation which leads to an idea that is researched through developing a painting, sculpture, or installation. As my work develops in the gallery the students will see that the creative process requires time and the willingness to experiment, make changes, and take risks. Through witnessing the development of my work, students will learn that the artist’s practice is mysterious and intentional, playful and thoughtful, and available for anyone who has a curious mind.
Artist Bio
Elizabeth Awalt grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and moved to Boston to attend Boston College. As an undergraduate, she studied Fine Arts at Boston College where she returned to teach and became a tenured professor. She received her MFA degree at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by several fellowships including the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Yaddo, MacDowell and the Millay Colony. She has been the recipient of both a Massachusetts Artists Fellowship in Painting and an Individual Artist Grant in Painting from the National Endowment of the Arts.
The artist has exhibited widely with selected solo shows at the Danforth Museum, Clark Gallery, Soprafina Gallery, and Thomas Segal Gallery in the Boston area. In New York she was represented by the GW Einstein Gallery and is currently represented by Caldbeck Gallery and Turtle Gallery in Maine. Her work has appeared in numerous group exhibitions in museums, including, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA., Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT., Decordova Museum, Lincoln, MA. and the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston. Her work is in the collection of the Danforth, Decordova, Rose, Snite, and McMullen Art Museums and in corporate collections nationwide.