About: Statement & Bio

Artist's Statement

I am a painter who works with collage and abstraction. I begin with preparatory sketches that I expand into bigger compositions. I create with preconceived plans to express an emotion like happiness, sadness, or power. Sometimes just letting the paint form its own composition can be exciting.

I seek to employ colors in new and exciting ways. I use abstraction to tell a story using words, drawings or photographs from the history of art. In my most recent works, I have merged reality with abstraction. I see shapes of architecture, lines against the sky, perspective, and light. The skylines in LA have inspired a new abstract path, for me. I am showing my recent works in a solo exhibit called Abstracts Revisited.
    
My father, Robert Elliott, was a graphic designer, photographer, sculptor and painter.  He taught me to draw, encouraged me to become a graphic designer and a fine artist. I studied fine art at Briarcliff College, in Briarcliff Manor near my home in Westchester, New York. After college I studied at The School of Visual Arts, The New School for Social Research, and The Art Students League of New York City. Early in my graphic design career I worked with Peter Max on projects for the Bettmann Archive and The Art Director’s Club of New York. After opening my design business called, Mechanicals Overnight, I worked on magazines and brochures for Bergdorf Goodman, Random House and Newsweek Magazine. By working overnight, I was able to deliver the completed production early in the morning. That was my niche.

While I was in New York City, I was asked to be the Art Director for Aspen Magazine 5&6, following Andy Warhol who was the art director for Aspen 3&4. Aspen was an experimental magazine of fine artists and can be found in contemporary art museums throughout the world. During my time with Aspen Magazine, I worked with Susan Sontag, Brian O’Doherty, William Burroughs, Tony Smith and Mel Bochner.

My husband and I moved to Hawaii where we raised our son Robert, and I worked as a designer for the time we lived there. After 20 wonderful years in Hawaii we moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where I became a docent at The Walker Art Center studying contemporary art and painting in a studio. We moved to Los Gatos, California where I worked as the art director for Classic Custom Vacations and painted in my studio at the Alameda Artworks in San Jose. I retired from graphic design and now work solely as a fine artist. My work has been exhibited in shows and galleries in California and New York.
Aspen 5&6 can be found in museums around the world.

Now living in Los Angeles, I am on the board of SCWCA, The Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art as the Exhibitions Chair planning new exhibits. 


Exhibits

2024, December, The Los Gatos Tree at Iwasawa Oriental Art Gallery in Los Gatos

2024, July, SCWCA Member’s Picnic, 15801 Royal Meadows Place, Sherman Oaks

2024, Honoring The Feminine, 6000 Circle Project, Range Projects Gallery, L.A.

2024, Beverly Hills Art Show, Beverly Hills, L.A.

2024, A Women’s Voice in a Pivotal Time, The Makery, L.A.

2024, Expressions of Peace, LELA, The Makery, L.A.

2023, Holliday Show, The Makery, L.A.

2023, A Keen Eye, The Artist’s Perspective, Range Projects, L.A.

2023, Joyful, Online exhibit

2023, Seeing Red, Shelley Heffler Gallery, Palm Desert

2023, Beverly Hills Art Show, Beverly Hills, L.A.

2022, What’s Next, Betsy Lueke Art Center, Burbank, L.A.

2019, Enough, Neutra Institute Gallery&7 Museum, Silverlake, L.A.

2019, Pulse of LA, Sola Gallery, L.A.

2019, Unfettered, Avenue 50 Studio, L.A.

2017, Phenomena, Neutra Institute Gallery & Museum, Silver Lake, L.A.

2016, Scissors, Paper, and Clue, The academy for Jewish Religion California, L.A.

2015, The Goddesses Are Coming, Iwasawa Oriental Art Gallery, Los Gatos, CA

2015, Image & Transmission, Iwasawa Oriental Art, Los Gatos, CA


Exhibits with Catalogs

2020, She Votes Exhibition & Catalog with SCWCA

2018, Art Speaks Exhibition & catalog, Women’s Caucus for Art

2012, Man As Object: Reversing The Gaze
Kinsey Institute Gallery, Bloomington, Indiana, Exhibition & Catalog

2012, Momentum, 40th Anniversary, National Exhibit for Women’s Caucus for Art
Los Angeles Art Association, Gallery 825, Exhibition & Catalog

2011, Man As Object: Reversing The Gaze
SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA, Exhibition & Catalog

2009, Control, exhibition catalog
SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco

2009, Preceptive, Purpose and Passion, The 20th Anniversary Show, SBAWCA
Exhibition & Catalog, Los Gatos, CA

2009, Women Artist’s on Immigration, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
Exhibit and Juror’s Statement including The Two-sided Border Story.