Today we’d like to introduce you to Lizzy Taber.
Lizzy, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve only been making art since freshman year of college. I went to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida and once I took my first printmaking class. I was all in. I graduated in 2014 and began to travel a lot, to explore my own concepts, place, and new landscapes to get inspirations. I started the MFA program at Arizona State University in 2016. I’ve been learning from experience and I think my most influential ones were the past three artists residencies I’ve done. The first one was in Northern Iceland, the second was at Double Dog Dare Studio in Kauai, and the third was an artist at sea program with Schmidt Ocean Institute. All three of them were involving and surrounded by the sea. Which is what my work is focused around currently.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My work is generally pretty abstract. I’ve always been drawn to abstract things and concepts I don’t understand right away. Whenever I enter a gallery I feel a pull to the most minimal piece in the room. I think it gives me room to think and understand the piece before reading the artist statement. So, for me, I leave a lot of room for interpretation with the viewer. To be honest, no one will ever see the piece the way I see it from my experiences and mind – but that’s okay because I think that’s the beauty of it.
Each piece means something different to everyone. I create based intuition and emotion. I did a series on the melting glaciers and dying reefs and although I think it’s important to raise awareness on climate changes impacts, I started those as metaphors for smaller scaled human loss. As a deeply emotional person I feel things on a larger scale so it’s important for me to express myself using universal concepts that can evoke emotion across the board. My most recent work from the show Tidal, was focused on seafloor mapping. I’m interested in the poetic and mysterious qualities of the ocean. I think bathymetry is the perfect place for me to start exploring a new metaphor. Bathymetry is the measurement of depths in bodies of water and I think about the actual mapping of the ocean parallels a lot of personal mapping of experiences and depths within.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
I think one of the biggest challenges artists face today is actually the inner critic within. It’s really super easy to get in your head and start realizing how many artists are out there and let all the ideas of competition, failure, insecurities, and negativity bog you down. With that being said – if you can counter balance that inner critic somehow and continue to keep creating and learn how to take care of yourself and find the balance, then you will find success. An abundance of it.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My next solo show will be at Eric Fischl gallery in February in downtown Phoenix, Arizona! I’m really excited for that. I also have some other group shows coming up in a few galleries nationally. My website is www.Lizzytaber.com and I try to keep that up to date alongside posting a lot of the process on Instagram; @lizzytaber_ I’m always open to chat and show my work to anyone who’s interested.
Contact Info:
- Address: Tempe, Arizona
- Website: www.lizzytaber.com
- Phone: 9544617892
- Email: elizabethmtaber@gmail.com
- Instagram: @lizzytaber_
Image Credit:
Ryan Parra
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