Artist Statement

A lifetime of immersing myself in landscapes, both in plein air and underwater, has allowed me to gain an intimacy with the natural world as witness, observer, and recorder. I consider my paintings a conduit to experiences in nature, a way to explore the dynamic evolution of a range of environments.

I’ve always been drawn to watery places where the light, color and forms are both recognizable and abstract. My paintings reflect the heightened sensation of these universes and evolve like living organisms, developing their own ecologies. In the studio I layer, pour, and scrape away paint, inviting immediacy and memory to exist in equal parts. This process echoes cycles of organic growth and decay and current destructive impacts on our environment.

In the end, I always come back to the physicality of my materials; the sensuous quality of oil paint expresses what I’ve seen and felt in my encounters with nature. I create these paintings to invoke a world of beauty, chaos, and turbulence, and to invite viewers to take note of their surroundings whether on land or beneath the waves.

Artist Bio

Elizabeth Awalt’s work is rooted in the natural world, particularly landscapes of raw beauty or those affected by environmental change. The artist’s work has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and the MacDowell, Yaddo, and Millay Colonies. Elizabeth’s work has been shown in Boston area group exhibitions including the Museum of Fine Arts, DeCordova Museum, Rose Art Museum, and McMullen Museum. Solo shows include the Danforth Museum, Matter and Light Fine Art, Clark Gallery, Soprafina Gallery, Thomas Segal Gallery, GW Einstein Gallery NY, Caldbeck Gallery, Cove Street Arts and Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Maine. In April 2019 artist and curator Maria Magdalena Campos Pons invited the artist to exhibit in the Thirteenth Havana Biennale in Mantanzas, Cuba.  

Elizabeth curated Undercurrents: Water and Human Impact at Concord Center for the Arts in 2022 and is on the Exhibitions Committee of the Concord Center for the Arts. The artist created an online project, Marking Lives Covid-19 in 2020 and co-curated the exhibit Remembering Together: Marking Lives Covid-19 exhibited at the Broad Institute in 2021. 

Elizabeth lives in Concord, Massachusetts and Swans Island, Maine. She received her BA from Boston College and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. The artist taught painting at Boston College where she was awarded tenure as Associate Professor.

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