Biography

Beth Elliott’s pieces are sculptural as well as illustrative, and the forms and markings are driven instinctively by the connections that she feels occurring as the work evolves into interpretable as well as abstract forms. There is a significant textural aspect to her art as the surfaces explore the composition of a narrative or landscape. The markings on her vessels are her private and public lexicon and the processing of a thought or mood. Once complete, the viewer brings their own experiences to the piece when interpreting her landscapes and narratives. This is the completion of her organic process- the conversation between the art and the viewer once she has sent it into the world. 

Beth Elliott’s art practice pulls from many facets of her life. Her formal education is in biochemistry and landscape architecture. Her biochemistry research focused on the microscopic architecture inside cells that spatially organizes and directs motility. Her design education further investigates spatially important juxtaposition of form and function in carving gardens out of the land macroscopically. And studying art has been through self teaching, intuitive exploration and intentional study in her studio. All of these educational foundations heavily influence her visions and forms in clay and in sculpture, but her art is intentionally directed away from the precision that both science and architecture require.

Beth’s Artist statement: The core of my art practice has been working with clay for the past decade, but my longer term creative endeavors encompass sculpture, painting, and installation art. My clay pieces are sculptural as well as illustrative, and they are driven instinctively by the connections that I see occurring as the work is created. I work from the forms arising during hand building and throwing, and alter these forms by disassembling and reassembling them, working with the pieces until the forms resonate with me internally. The addition or subtraction of illustrative layers, subtle textures, the application of handles or addition of artifacts arising from cutting apart my clay vessels gives each object an individual and identifiable sense of space, while reducing the vessel and its surface design to simple, modest, representational forms.  Some of my clay vessels are basic shapes that I slip cast to create a blank canvas for painting and scratching landscapes and conversations onto the clay. Other materials and mixed media find their way into my sculptural work with or without the balance of clay. I work often in series, chasing a feeling until it can be resolved and reflected in the vessel and in nuances revealed by repetition in the series. It is this process of making that I am most connected to.

Oftentimes surface markings on the vessels can be attributed to a specific mood, but they also reflect the rough outline of a story or landscape that develops during the building of the forms. The markings are simple in form and free in their making, and are my private and public lexicon and response to the external world.