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Elizabeth English

Multidisciplinary, Multidisciplinary Art

About the Artist

Elizabeth English is an artist, designer, and educator who lives and works in Baltimore Maryland. With a background in architectural design, and a long career working with historic buildings, Elizabeth now investigates how objects of every kind can tell stories. Inquiries into history, theory, fabrication processes and collaboration all lead to deep examination of the construction of the material world and our place in it. Her interdisciplinary approach ranges from furniture and garment design to printmaking, sculpture, projection and 3D mapping. Each project asks how the process of its making conveys meaning. Elizabeth currently serves as Secretary of the Board of the Bard Graduate Center for Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture in New York City. She teaches at MICA, and has previously lectured on the impacts of changing technology on the built environment.

Elizabeth English website Arrowspace Projects Elizabeth English website Baker Artist Portfolio

Featured Work

Photos

The Catch Table and Fishing Lamp are the first pieces made for a collaboration with Koba Furniture, ARROWSPACE X KOBA. The shapes used in these designs were generated from a pattern making process used for garments, and then explored through a material lens afforded by my experience with jewelry making. Testing an idea that objects are frozen moments in time, I hoped to create a sense of dynamism. In design contexts, it asks the client to participate: the forms that make up the base of the table can be arranged in a few different ways, and the wood details on the top are movable even after installation. (Photo by Amy Boone-McCreesh)
Working with existing shapes I had cut from various materials, I imagined fishing in a murky pond; that moment when you catch something and you are unsure if it's a boot, or a fish, or a piece of trash. You won't know until you name it. I worked with Dave Greber, who helped me capture my shapes in a projection mapping software. We presented them in such a way as to cast doubt on material reality. The shadows, the reflected light, and the movement all work to remind the viewer that they don't ever quite know what is real.
The Map asks the viewer to visually link disparate shapes and materials to conceive of a whole object. The shapes were generated from a garment drafting process, and then made material using sculpture and jewelry making techniques. The Map was begun during the first Trump administration, and is ultimately a rumination on the intersection of history and personal and collective insight.