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ARTIST STATEMENT
ELIZABETH NOBLE
One of my first memories is of standing in front of a plastic easel at Saint Joseph’s pre-school. No brushes, lots of color – and messy fingers! Pure joy. Self-doubt was not even in my wheelhouse at that age.
Throughout my childhood, my family encouraged me to do well academically in preparation for a financially secure future. Free periods between algebra and biology found me scavenging slabs of drywall stacked behind a well-used sink in the art department, along with old cans of grey sludge from other students’ previous brush cleanup. That was more than enough to make some of my favorite images, inspired by a snarly, ill-tended vine hanging over the sink.
My path as an artist has been circuitous. A degree in architecture led me to other corporate pursuits. I never abandoned my curiosity and engagement with the creative process. Summers in northern Minnesota found me stealing time for quick watercolor sketches on the shore of Lake Superior, and I relished time now and then to capture the play of light on a random kitchen table. At this time in my life, with more years to look back on I realize that it is while painting that I have always best experienced a higher power and a feel of great abundance and respite.
My body of work reflects the evolution of my journey as an artist. A metamorphosis happens not only over a period of time as I add to my life experiences and technical toolbox, but even within one singular work. Each piece seems to reflect shifts of where I am headed at that point in time, and represents my experience of the subject: aspects both resolved and unresolved, dissonant and harmonious.
Each painting lives and breathes on its own. Becoming acquainted with a painting as it takes on a personality is a joy and an exploration each time. Curiosity and wonder is integral to my process. I stand back so the ambiguity and unknown in a painting can thrive, often by holding back much detail. The absence of much information is a gift to those who experience the work: It becomes an opportunity anew to each viewer. A work that feels successful to me is one where mood and essence manifest while raising more questions than answers.
Vermillion Sky leads me to an unexpected place where a very vocal thunderhead storms to life with a very defined, contrasting crown, demanding in its contrast. The moody shadow below grumbles back in subtle, delicious symbiotic tones. In contrast, a more reflective moment at the kitchen table offers bright colors juicy enough to taste in Blueberry Lemonade. The shadows are rich with scrumptious warms, while just the hint of movement above in the dry leaves only suggests their presence.
I have deep gratitude for the opportunity to make each painting. Each time I stand in front of a blank canvas, I wonder what will manifest. My wish is for you to have fun on your own journey of curiosity and wonder as you engage with the body of images here.
PROCESS
The City of Minneapolis is a river’s edge place, that sprung from the flour milling industry in support of nearby farming communities decades ago. The Stone Arch bridge is, to this day, iconic Minneapolis history. It spans the great Mississippi River at the St. Anthony locks and dams, and remains a cultural hub of pedestrian activity and events. The City’s continued embrace of its farming and milling roots has allowed it to retain a special character, while growing to become a successful international place.
I painted this piece, FOUNDATION, to acknowledge the City’s spirit of valuing its roots while embracing growth and contemporary commerce. It is difficult, on a developed river’s edge, to incorporate all the visual perspectives to best tell that story. With a painting, as opposed to a single photograph, I’m able to assemble elements from different views as inspiration to represent both historic and contemporary elements.
A quick sketch is elemental to any of my successful works, and it catches in time the soul and mood of the subject, while allowing exploration of a variety of compositions, color choices and relationships before moving to the larger canvas. It also presents a good time to solidify my conceptual idea, and to have further conversation with my patron relative to that concept and other elements.
Throughout my process I refer back to each of my studies, and continue to make changes along the way. On larger pieces such as this, I often block out major shapes, and establish primary values that may be helpful to solidify that composition. This stage allows me to easily add or subtract elements to tell the story.
The play of color in both rich warm and cool tones is another tool to show contrasts. In the case of FOUNDATION, my goal was to use the warm tones to create a “glow” emanating from the City’s beginnings, as represented by the Stone Arch Bridge, to set off with cooler colors “new” Minneapolis which has risen from it. At the terminus of the Bridge, intense reds and oranges in the heart of the City, in the old flour exchange district at sunrise, further set alive and memorialize that historical district in the midst of the bustle of new commerce.
