BIO
Elizabeth Killgore was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. At age 6, dance was her first artistic expression when she began training in ballet, and later, in modern dance, as well. She performed professionally from age 14 through college at Tulane Summer Lyric Theater in New Orleans and at area schools and community centers. Her talents and interests remained divided between dance and academia, but ultimately at her parents urging, academia won out. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Tulane University and embarked upon a business career in New Orleans that brought her to New York City in 1989.
A lifelong interest in drawing and painting led her to haunt New York's museums, art galleries and studios where she broadened her appreciation for artistic expression from dance to art. In 2006 she began to study oil painting at Silvermine School of Art in New Canaan, CT, under celebrated artists, and continued there through 2014. Since 2011 she has been exhibiting extensively in the Connecticut and New York area and has won many awards. Her works in landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes are painterly and light-filled, with abstract and expressionistic elements. In the fall of 2019, she was invited to become a member of the prestigious Silvermine Guild of Artists and continuously exhibits her works there at the galleries and museum. Elizabeth lives and works in New York City.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My approach to my art and subjects is highly emotional and passionate. I love light and color. I work on site as much as I can, but mostly from photos captured where and when the light is just right, as well as the shadows and colors. These photos never capture what I actually see in the place in the moment. They are merely a reference for my work. I rely on the memory of my emotional reaction to a scene and use the paint to express my visual and emotional experiences. I paint instinctively and let the painting inform me as I go.
In painting I am inspired by both the city and the country. I see things that move me and that say “paint me”. Because I work wet on wet paint and wet on dry paint, I always have two or more paintings going at the same time.
My landscapes of nature often include water with its mirror images, reflecting the surroundings and the sky. And I like to make the branches of the trees dance, intertwine, interlock, seemingly tangled, but actually part of a great mathematical design. I see that design in everything all around me.
In my cityscapes, it’s very important for me to get the perspective right. Then I am free to just let my eye take over and paint what I see, captured in a moment of time. And I am free to express the energy, the bright lights and colors of the buildings and streets, and how they interact with nature and the sky, creating abstract patterns everywhere.
Color, light, beauty and whimsy move me. This, and the joy I feel while painting comes through, I believe, in my paintings. Painting is as essential to my life as breathing.
* Commission requests are welcome.