Elizabeth West is an emerging, interdisciplinary artist, living and working in Wisconsin. Her roots are in ceramics, in which she received her degree at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. During and after her time in school, West taught ceramics classes at The Phipps in Hudson, WI, and in NC at a residency through The Bascom: A Center for Visual Art. Her time in North Carolina expanded her knowledge and understanding of clay and introduced her to the cultural and social impact that functional ceramics possess. This sparked her current exploration of functionality and how objects influence us in personal, historical and social contexts.

Since branching into digital photography and video performance, West has been exhibited across the U.S. including VisArts Center, Rockville, MD; Annemarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Solomons, MD; Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT; No. 7 Center Gallery, Vermillion, SD; and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo-si, South Korea.

West is also part of the collective, Polyester Projects, which in early 2022 had their first exhibition Searching for the Absurd, at The Phipps in Hudson, WI. In May 2024 they presented a new body of work at the Weitz Center for Creativity at Carleton College in Northfield, MN.

This year, West also co-founded WHAT Art School, an evolution of WHAT Art Gallery which she helped start in in 2021 in St. Croix Falls, WI, which features local, national, and international artists. WHAT Art School will adopt a structure similar to folk and craft schools, and be committed to arts education and encourage instructors, staff, and students to share their experiences and knowledge openly in a safe, inclusive and diverse environment.
My work is driven and influenced by ideas around function and its correlation to value in our society. I explore this primarily through photography and video performance in which I manipulate the usability of objects.

In my photographs I work with all functional items. I am interested in altering, or dismantling functionality, and how this interacts with the idea of an object existing outside of how it can serve us. While the photos I create are often a humorous uniting of two items, they also seek to spark a serious consideration of functionality, value, and disposability in our society.

Currently my video performances focus on ceramic objects and the feminization of everyday items. This is illustrated well within the relationship between us, cows and ceramics. We use the ash of cow bones to create beautiful bone china, and their milk to repair it when it breaks. Beef tallow has also been discovered in ancient makeup alongside tin oxide. All three have a strong tie to the connotation of function as value and examining this exposes the harm and exploitation this definition of value causes.

Throughout my work I consider the systems around us that have created these items and materials I am using, and my role within them. I believe this is something we should also consider outside of objects and things: what systems and situations do we perpetuate through our actions and complacencies?

Education

September 2012 - May 2017

BA - University of Wisconsin La Crosse

Experience

2024

Co-Founder, WHAT Art School, St. Croix Falls, WI

2023 - Present

Account Manager + Content Creator - Rayce PR + Marketing, Remote

2021 - Present

Co-Founder, WHAT Art Gallery, St. Croix Falls, WI

November 2021 - June 2022

Digital Communications Coordinator- BigBadToyStore, Somerset, WI

August 2020 - November 2021

Product Specialist - BigBadToyStore, Somerset, WI

March 2019 - August 2020

Office Manager - Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN

January 2018 - September 2018

Ceramics Teaching Resident - Dave Drake Studio Barn, Highlands, NC

August 2017 - November 2017

Volunteer and Visitor Services Intern - Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN                     

June, August, November 2017

Ceramics Instructor - The Phipps, Hudson, WI

October 2015 - May 2017

Student Coordinator - University of Wisconsin La Crosse Creative Imperatives Festival, La Crosse, WI

August 2015

Haystack School of Arts and Crafts, Deer Isle, ME

September 2015 - December 2016

Ceramics Department Classroom Intern - University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI 

October 2014 - May 2017

Ceramics Department Studio Assistant - University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Community Engagement

2021 - Present

Chair, Arts Committee to the Parks, Arts, and Trails Commission, St. Croix Falls, WI

Exhibitions

2024

Solo Exhibition, Value Me, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI

2024

Solo Exhibition, Polyester Projects, Carleton College, Project Space, Wetiz Center for Creativity, Northfield, MN

2023

Group Exhibition, Experimental Film & Video, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo-si, South Korea

2022

Group Exhibition, I'll Be There: An Exhibition About Love, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Solomons, MD

Group Exhibition, Undercurrents , Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

Solo Exhibition, Polyester Projects, Searching for the Absurd, Gallery 2, The Phipps, Hudson, WI

2021

Group Exhibition, Packard Group National Exhibition, No.7 Center, Vermillion, SD

Group Exhibition, This Moment of Rupture, VisArts Center, Rockville, MD

Group Exhibition, Winter is Alive, Garver Feed Mill, Madison, WI

2019

Group Exhibition, Alumni Show, Main Gallery, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Group Exhibition, Image Art Show, East Central Regional Arts Council, Braham, MN

2018

Group Exhibition, Pop - up Show, Atrium Gallery, The Bascom, Highlands, NC

2017

Group Exhibition, Trafik, Main Gallery, Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

Group Exhibition, It's All Sausage to Me, Capstone Show, Main Gallery, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, WI

Group Exhibition, All Students Juried Show, Main Gallery, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

2016

Group Exhibition, All Students Juried Show, Main Gallery, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Group Exhibition, Telephone: An Interdisciplinary Game, Dialogue Space, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

2015

Group Exhibition, Junior Exhibition, 3rd Floor Gallery, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI 

2014

Group Exhibition, Celebration of Student Research and Creativity, Cartwright Center, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

Grants

2022

Phantom Gallery Project, Wisconsin Arts Board Creative Communities Grant

2022

Phantom Gallery Project, Wisconsin Arts Board Creative Communities Grant

2022

Main Street Bounceback Grant, Wisconsin West Central Regional Planning Commission

2017

University of Wisconsin La Crosse Research and Creativity Grant, Study in Clay & Performance

2015

University of Wisconsin La Crosse Research and Creativity Grant, Portraiture in Clay

2014

University of Wisconsin La Crosse Research and Creativity Grant, Study in Found Objects

Awards

2017

People's Choice Award, Trafik2017, Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

University of Wisconsin La Crosse College of Liberal Studies Recognition of Excellence





elizabethwest507@gmail.com

@elizabeth_di_west

Contact image