About the Artist

ARTIST STATEMENT

 

I look to the natural world for my inspiration as an artist and paint images of wildlife and native flora encountered while hiking in wilderness areas. I work with pastels in my studio. When creating, I explore various possibilities while thinking, “What if I try this? Now this, then this.” Each brushstroke combines to create a material thing that eventually looks back at me. The resulting image almost always teaches me something about myself, my life and interactions with others.

 

My paintings examine five life elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space. The Earth paintings are botanical portraits of the prickly pear cactus and its ability to survive changing climatic conditions. The Water paintings explore our interaction with water: how it heals, challenges and transforms us. The Air paintings feature creatures that fly and also examine cloudscapes and windmills. The Fire paintings include figurative images because our inner fire warms us and inspires us to use our gifts. The final element, Space, examines how objects occupy space.

 

BIO

 

Elizabeth Wallace originally earned a BA degree from the University of Iowa. She later studied fine art drawing and painting at the Laguna College of Art and Design. While there, she earned scholarships and was awarded Best of Fine Arts for her award-winning, large scale pastel tricycle series. In 2007, the President of Virginia Tech commissioned her to draw a set of 32 portraits of faculty and students for the college’s permanent collection. Senior CBS reporter Joe Dashiell came to her studio in 2014 to interview her about the collection and film her as she worked. Click on this link to watch the interview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN5sPLn1pd8&sns=em

 

She has shown her work nationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Her most recent solo show was titled “Original Skin: Botanical Resilience in a Changing Climate” featuring portraits of the prickly pear cactus at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden in the summer of 2017. 

 

Her work has also been included in the Laguna News Post, the 2006 Emerging Artists Calendar, the 2005 issue of The Pastel Journal and the 2008 Union of Concerned Scientists Calendar national competition. She is a member of the California Native Plant Society, and is currently working to rehabilitate wild land spaces and install California native plants. You can view her blog to learn more about her conservation work at www.buckwheatbringsbutterflies.com.

 

SOLO SHOWS AND AWARDS

Original Skin: Botanical Resilience in a Changing Climate. Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens. June - August 2017.

 

Outstanding Pastel, October 2015 Bold Brush Painting Contest.

 

The Phillips Museum, Philadelphia, PA.  Thornton Oakley Memorial Award in the 107th International Juried competition for Overlook pastel, 2007.

 

Virginia Tech April 16th Pastels, Pastel Portrait Collection, Blacksburg, CA. Pastel portraits commissioned in memory of 32 students and faculty.  Collection is on display at the G. Burke Johnston Center, April 2009 - present.

 

John Wayne Airport Solo Exhibition, Orange County, CA. A solo exhibition featuring large-scale pastel paintings in the main terminal, 2009.

 

The Pastel Journal, national magazine for pastel artists and collectors, honorable mention in The Pastel 100 feature, Suspended, Part II, 2005.  

 

Palm Springs Desert Museum, 33rd Annual National Juried Exhibition, Palm Springs, CA, Utrecht Manufacturing Award, Overlook I pastel, 2002.

 

21st International Annual Open Juried Exhibition, Sacramental Fine Arts Center, Bob Suggs Award for Excellence, Overlook pastel, 2007.

 

First Place Painting, Woman with Umbrella, oil on board and First Place Drawing, Michelle pastel, 2004. 

 

Second Place Painting, Pear Up, oil on canvas, Orange County, CA.

 

Los Angeles, CA I-5 Gallery Juried Group Exhibition, Honorable Mention for Outstanding Work, Overlook pastel, 2008.

 

Best of Fine Arts Award, Laguna College of Art and Design,  Departure pastel, Laguna Beach, CA, 2002.

 

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

Featured Artist, Mission Fine Art Gallery, Prickly Pear Cactus Portraits, San Juan Capistrano, September 2017.

Chaos, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA, February 2015.

Gallery Show, El Camino Real Playhouse, San Juan Capistrano, CA, February - March 2015.

Art for a Changing World, Chicago, Illinois, January through March 2014.

Star Motors Collection Show, Art and Fine Cars, February through May 2014.

Artisan Gallery, December show, Mission Viejo, CA, December 2013.

All Media 2012, Irvine, CA, July through August 2012.

Song of the Land, Los Angeles, CA, January through May 2012.

Mixed Bag, Laguna Beach, CA, September through November 2011.

Festival of the Arts at the Pageant of the Masters, Laguna Beach, CA, July 2 through August 31, 2011.

Spring Forward, The Blinn House, Pasadena, CA, June and July 2011.

Earth Juried Exhibition, 2nd City Council Art Gallery, Long Beach, CA, April 2011. 

Angel Trike is on permanent display at the Mesa Child Development Center at the University of California San Diego, September 2010.  Click on the link that follows to read about the unveiling of the portrait:

 http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/10-01Donated_Tricycle_Painting.asp

Juried Fine Art Exhibition, Laguna Beach, CA, October through November 2010.

Festival of the Arts at the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, CA.  Pastel paintings exhibited July 3, 2010 to August 31, 2010.

Memory's Touch Exhibition, June 1 to July 28 2010, John Spoor Broome Library Gallery, California State University, Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA.

Made in California, City of Brea Gallery, July 2010, Brea, CA.

California Visual Artists, 2nd City Council Gallery, November 2010, Long Beach, CA.

Los Angeles Printmaking Society's 20th National Exhibition, Barnsdall Gallery, Hollywood, CA, 2009.

Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Art by the Running Foot, Santa Ana, CA, 2009.

Solo Exhibition, John Wayne Airport - Orange County, CA.  A collection of large-scale pastel portraits were exhibited, 2009.

Gallery Tontantzin, Passion for Trees, San Juan Bautista, CA, 2009.

The Art of Democracy, Left, Right and Center, Old Town Gallery, Tustin, CA, 2008.

Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, 112th International Annual Open Exhibition at the National Arts Club, New York, NY, 2008.

Visual Arts Alliance, 25th Juried National Open Exhibition, Houston, TX, 2008.

Pastel Portrait Collection, Virginia Tech Office of Recovery and Support, Exhibition of 32 Portraits of Students and Teachers, Blacksburg, VA, 2008.

Union of Concerned Scientists 2008 Calendar, graphite drawing Liberty, October 2008.

Southern California Women's Caucus for the Arts All Members Art Show and Fundraiser, Los Angeles, CA 2008.

107th International Anniversary Exhibition of Works on Paper, The Phillips Museum, Philadelphia, PA, 2008.

California Open Exhibition, The Artists Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2008.

Go Figure, A Survey of the Human form, Laguna Plein Air Painters Association Group Show, Laguna Beach, CA, 2008.

Pastels USA, 21st Annual International Open Exhibition, Pastel Society of the West Coast, Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Sacramento, CA, 2006.

San Diego Art Institute 48th Annual International Exhibition, San Diego, CA, 2006.

Less is More, Miniature Exhibition, Laguna Plein Air Painters Exhibition, Laguna Beach, CA, 2006.

2005:  Land of the Free:  Americana, National Juried Exhibition, City of Brea Art Gallery, Brea, CA, 2006.

Artist Indoors, Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, Laguna Beach, CA, 2006.

Saddleback Art League, Harvest of Color, Mission Viejo, CA, 2005.

Twentieth Juried National Open Exhibition, Visual Arts Alliance, Houston, TX, 2004.

33rd Annual National Juried Exhibition, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA, 2004.

Artists Exhibition, Saddleback Art League, Mission Viejo, CA, 2004.

America, National Juried Exhibition, Second City Gallery, Long Beach, CA, 2003.