Elizabeth Hubler-Torrey, creates encaustic paintings and sculpture that reflect her inspiration from nature conservation, climate change and marine conservation. Her naturally luminous creations have an internal glow from the use of beeswax in the encaustic technique and is attracted to it’s versatility. It can range from hard to pliable when slightly warm for forming shapes. She uses technique pairings like atmospheric layering and glazing to utilize its transparent quality inherent to the wax and at the same time can build up areas of relief and impasto, highly textured areas, to sculpted 3D pieces. She employs overlapping colored wax to build up various textures, ironing with heat, pouring, scraping, and staining the wax with oil paint, and at times, includes pigment pastels, ink and watercolor. She discovers new encaustic techniques with each piece.
A native of Lansing, Michigan Elizabeth now lives and works in the Grand Rapids area. In 2014 she received an MFA in Painting from Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD). She works primarily in encaustic, that is the art of using heated wax and pigment to create a multitude of effects. Wax is a versatile medium that can be used with a variety of multi-media like oil bar, photography, printmaking hand-made papers, and watercolor.
She was awarded the Artist-in-Residence, Acadia National Park Schoodic Institute, Winter Harbor, Maine, 2017, Golden Apple Residency in Maine, 2014 and 3rd place grant in the Art in Science competition from the Arts and Industry Council of Battle Creek, MI and Guest Visiting Artist for Continuing Studies Program at KCAD in 2015. She has been included in various competitions and exhibitions including Place in Proximity at (SCENE) MetroSpace gallery at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Fusion in the Visual Arts, Kreft Center for the Arts at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Art Michigan All-Media Competition at Lansing Art Gallery and In Our Midst: Greater Lansing Artists, Kresge Art Museum at MSU.
Exhibitions
2024
Sculpture at the Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh Gallery at Fine Line Arts Center. St. Charles, IL.
2023
Small Wonders. Circle Gallery, Maryland Federation of Art, MD. Juror: Lillian Bayley Hoover, artist and Lecturer at Towson University.
94th Michigan Contemporary Art Exhibition. Muskegon Museum of Art, MI. Juror: Etsuko Ichikawa, artist, film maker and previous studio assistant to Dale Chilhuly.
Small Works. IU Kokomo Art Gallery, Indiana University – Kokomo, IA.
Global Meltdown. Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY.
2022
Small Worlds: Juried Exhibition of Small Works. Crooked Tree Gallery, Traverse City, MI. Juror: Tami Fauver, Deputy Director and Curator of Krasl Art Center.
West Michigan Area Show. Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI.
36th Annual Lowell Arts West Michigan Art Competition. Juror: Bill Davis, Professor, Gwen Frostic School of Art, WMU. Lowell Arts Council, MI.
HerStory 2022 Exhibition of Art by Women Artists. Juror: Renee Phillips, Manhattan Arts International, NYC. https://manhattanarts.com/herstory-2022-exhibition-of-art-by-women-artists/
2020
Fantastical Flora and Fauna Regional Juried Online Exhibition, South Haven Center for the Arts, MI
A Decade of Golden Apple Artists, http://www.goldenapplestudio.com/. Juror: Shelley Stevens
2018
HWD – Height, Width, Depth 12th Annual Exhibition, Rosewood Art Centre, Kettering, OH
CAMPUS: 2018 Annual Faculty and Staff Exhibition, UICA, Grand Rapids, MI
Fossil Tales Exhibition, Central Booking – Haber Space Gallery, NYC
2017
Mid-West Sculpture Exhibition, Kokomo Art Gallery, Indiana University
6th Annual Encaustic National Juried Exhibition, Morpho Gallery, Chicago, IL
Global Warming is REAL National Juried Exhibition, Museum of Encaustic Art, Santa Fe, NM
2016
(RE)COMPOSE Curated Fellowship Group Exhibition at ArtPrize, Grand Rapids, MI
Golden Apple Residency Group Exhibition, KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI
2015
Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Darwin Day, Mary Idema Pew Library, Grand Valley State University
Place in Proximity Exhibition, Scene MetroSpace, Art Dept., Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. Juror: Dustin London, MFA, Professor of Painting at Eastern Michigan University in the College of Arts & Sciences.
87th Regional Exhibition, Muskegon Museum of Art, MI. Jurors: Howard and Kathryn Clark, co-founders of Twinrocker Handmade Paper
Quinquennial, Alumni Exhibition at The (Art)ery Space, Grand Rapids, MI
2014
Kendall ArtPrize Educational Project, KCAD Main Atrium, Grand Rapids, MI
In-Between Dichotomies, MFA Thesis Graduate Exhibition, “Fed Galleries” @ KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI
2013
ArtPrize, Jon Hartman Photography Co. & 87 Orange Photography, Grand Rapids, MI
ArtDowntown. KCAD, Graduate Studios, Grand Rapids, MI
2012
Skywalk @ DeVos Place, Juror: Margaret Vega, Chair, Painting Program, KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI
Small Works, CODA Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI
2011
Skywalk @ DeVos Place, Juror: Margaret Vega, Chair, Painting Program, KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI
ArtPrize, Diversions Nightclub, Grand Rapids, MI
Graduate Exhibition, CODA Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI
ArtDowntown. KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI
Michigan Emerging Graduate Artist Exhibition, KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI. Juror: Cara Brewer Thompson, Asst. Prof. Graphic Design, State University of New York, Oswego
Fusion in the Visual Arts Exhibition, Kreft Center for the Arts, Ann Arbor, MI. Juror: Aaron Timlin, Executive Director at Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit
2009
ArtPeers Fall Festival, Electric Cheetah, East Grand Rapids, MI
West Michigan Artist’s Exhibition, Graffia Gallery, Spring Lake, MI
Art in Science, Arts and Industry Council, Battle Creek, MI
BFA Thesis Exhibition, KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI
2008
Spring for the Arts, Division Ave. Arts Collective (DAAC), Grand Rapids, MI
2001
Art Michigan All-Media Competition, Lansing Art Gallery, Lansing, MI
Juror: Patricia R. Mitchell, UICA, Grand Rapids, MI
2000
In Our Midst: Greater Lansing Artists, Kresge Art Museum, MSU, East Lansing, MI. Juror: Helen Sheridan, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI
Awards and Grants
Artist-in-Residence, Acadia National Park Service and Schoodic Institute, Winter Harbor, ME, 2017.
Scholarship, Golden Apple Art Residency, Juror/Director Shelley Newman-Stevens, Harrington, ME. 2015.
Third Place, Grant, Art in Science Competition, Arts and Industry Council of Battle Creek, MI. 2009.
Scholarship of Merit Award, KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI. 1995-96.
First Place, Michigan Lapidary Society, Michigan Youth Talent Competition, design, cast silver ring, Lansing, MI. 1986.
Honorable Mention, Michigan Youth Talent Competition, pencil portrait, Lansing, MI. 1986.
Publications & Interviews
Xanadu Gallery’s Art Catalogue, September-October 2023. https://art.xanadugallery.com/collections/xanadu-gallerys-art-catalogue-august-2023?page=1
“Artists in the Parks” by Cynthia Close. Artists Magazine, July/August 2020, pages 54-55. https://www.artistsnetwork.com/store/digital-magazines/artists-magazine-digital/artists-magazine-jul-aug-2020-digital/
Science Inspires Art by Elizabeth Hubler-Torrey, US National Park Service, video interview, 2017. https://www.nps.gov/articles/science-inspires-art-by-elizabeth-hubler-torrey.htm
Ocean Imagery Inspires Painting Alum During Residency at Acadia National Park. KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI 2017. https://kcad.ferris.edu/news/ocean-imagery-inspires-painting-alum-during-residency-at-acadia-national-park.html
Fifth Annual Author Celebration, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI 2017.
Place in Proximity, Exhibition Catalog, Art. Dept, Michigan State University, 2015.
ProFolio Brochure, Professional Development. KCAD Continuing Studies, Fall 2015.
In Between Dichotomies, MFA Thesis Statement, 2014.
Art Education Professional Development for the Master Teacher Brochure. KCAD, Continuing Studies Dept., April, 2011.
National Earth Science Teachers Association Newsletter, cover illustration, Lansing Community College, 1990.
Associations
Professional Artists Association – Associate Member, 2023 to present.
International Encaustic Artists, 2024.
Kendall College of Art & Design Alumni, 2014 to present.