Elizabeth West -

Elizabeth West is an emerging, interdisciplinary artist, living and working in Wisconsin. Her roots are in ceramics, in which she received her degree at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. During and after her time in school, West taught ceramics classes at The Phipps in Hudson, WI, and in NC at a residency through The Bascom: A Center for Visual Art. Her time in North Carolina expanded her knowledge and understanding of clay and introduced her to the cultural and social impact that functional ceramics possess. This sparked her current exploration of functionality and how objects influence us in personal, historical and social contexts.

Since branching into digital photography and video performance, West has been exhibited across the U.S. including VisArts Center, Rockville, MD; Annemarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Solomons, MD; Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT; No. 7 Center Gallery, Vermillion, SD; and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo-si, South Korea.

West is also part of the collective, Polyester Projects, which in early 2022 had their first exhibition Searching for the Absurd, at The Phipps in Hudson, WI. In May 2024 they presented a new body of work at the Weitz Center for Creativity at Carleton College in Northfield, MN.

This year, West also co-founded WHAT Art School, an evolution of WHAT Art Gallery which she helped start in in 2021 in St. Croix Falls, WI, which features local, national, and international artists. WHAT Art School will adopt a structure similar to folk and craft schools, and be committed to arts education and encourage instructors, staff, and students to share their experiences and knowledge openly in a safe, inclusive and diverse environment.

My work is driven and influenced by ideas around function and its correlation to value in our society. I explore this primarily through photography and video performance in which I manipulate the usability of objects.

In my photographs I work with all functional items. I am interested in altering, or dismantling functionality, and how this interacts with the idea of an object existing outside of how it can serve us. While the photos I create are often a humorous uniting of two items, they also seek to spark a serious consideration of functionality, value, and disposability in our society.

Currently my video performances focus on ceramic objects and the feminization of everyday items. This is illustrated well within the relationship between us, cows and ceramics. We use the ash of cow bones to create beautiful bone china, and their milk to repair it when it breaks. Beef tallow has also been discovered in ancient makeup alongside tin oxide. All three have a strong tie to the connotation of function as value and examining this exposes the harm and exploitation this definition of value causes.

Throughout my work I consider the systems around us that have created these items and materials I am using, and my role within them. I believe this is something we should also consider outside of objects and things: what systems and situations do we perpetuate through our actions and complacencies?

Education

_{September 2012 - May 2017}

BA - University of Wisconsin La Crosse

Experience

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Co-Founder, WHAT Art School, St. Croix Falls, WI

_{2023 - Present}

Account Manager + Content Creator - Rayce PR + Marketing, Remote

_{2021 - Present}

Co-Founder, WHAT Art Gallery, St. Croix Falls, WI

_{November 2021 - June 2022}

Digital Communications Coordinator- BigBadToyStore, Somerset, WI

_{August 2020 - November 2021}

Product Specialist - BigBadToyStore, Somerset, WI

_{March 2019 - August 2020}

Office Manager - Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN

_{January 2018 - September 2018}

Ceramics Teaching Resident - Dave Drake Studio Barn, Highlands, NC

_{August 2017 - November 2017}

Volunteer and Visitor Services Intern - Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN

_{June, August, November 2017}

Ceramics Instructor - The Phipps, Hudson, WI

_O_{ctober 2015 - May 2017}

Student Coordinator - University of Wisconsin La Crosse Creative Imperatives Festival, La Crosse, WI

_{August 2015}

Haystack School of Arts and Crafts, Deer Isle, ME

_{September 2015 - December 2016}

Ceramics Department Classroom Intern - University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

_{October 2014 - May 2017}

Ceramics Department Studio Assistant - University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Community Engagement

_{2021 - Present}

Chair, Arts Committee to the Parks, Arts, and Trails Commission, St. Croix Falls, WI

Exhibitions

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Solo Exhibition, Value Me, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI

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Solo Exhibition, Polyester Projects, Carleton College, Project Space, Wetiz Center for Creativity, Northfield, MN

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Group Exhibition, Experimental Film & Video, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo-si, South Korea

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Group Exhibition, I'll Be There: An Exhibition About Love, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Solomons, MD

Group Exhibition, Undercurrents , Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

Solo Exhibition, Polyester Projects, Searching for the Absurd, Gallery 2, The Phipps, Hudson, WI

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Group Exhibition, Packard Group National Exhibition, No.7 Center, Vermillion, SD

Group Exhibition, This Moment of Rupture, VisArts Center, Rockville, MD

Group Exhibition, Winter is Alive, Garver Feed Mill, Madison, WI

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Group Exhibition, Alumni Show, Main Gallery, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Group Exhibition, Image Art Show, East Central Regional Arts Council, Braham, MN

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Group Exhibition, Pop - up Show, Atrium Gallery, The Bascom, Highlands, NC

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Group Exhibition, Trafik, Main Gallery, Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

Group Exhibition, It's All Sausage to Me, Capstone Show, Main Gallery, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, WI

Group Exhibition, All Students Juried Show, Main Gallery, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

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Group Exhibition, All Students Juried Show, Main Gallery, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Group Exhibition, Telephone: An Interdisciplinary Game, Dialogue Space, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

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Group Exhibition, Junior Exhibition, 3rd Floor Gallery, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

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Group Exhibition, Celebration of Student Research and Creativity, Cartwright Center, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Grants

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Phantom Gallery Project, Wisconsin Arts Board Creative Communities Grant

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Phantom Gallery Project, Wisconsin Arts Board Creative Communities Grant

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Main Street Bounceback Grant, Wisconsin West Central Regional Planning Commission

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University of Wisconsin La Crosse Research and Creativity Grant, Study in Clay & Performance

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University of Wisconsin La Crosse Research and Creativity Grant, Portraiture in Clay

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University of Wisconsin La Crosse Research and Creativity Grant, Study in Found Objects

Awards

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People's Choice Award, Trafik2017, Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

University of Wisconsin La Crosse College of Liberal Studies Recognition of Excellence

elizabethwest507@gmail.com

@elizabeth_di_west

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