As a visual artist, writer, and acupuncturist, my hands and senses are equal partners in acts of creating, caring, and holding. In both my writing and my art work I am investigating a process of dissolving edges in a quest to discover authentic experience and expression, putting a value on creative practice and process. In my art work I am investigating storytelling, perception, and emotional response through sound, language, and communication. My work aims to capture sound on paper, translating language into color and form, texture and grit. I am drawn to the raw, the exposed, the lyric, and the palimpsest—in concept and design.
In my gesture series (including the small abstracts) I am investigating what we are given, how we make choices, and happenstance. Life is a series of myriad encounters, acts of volition, and unforeseen instances. The creative process is one of conscientious making based on concept and design, and a meditative form of adding layers with mixed materials. This meditative building process contains efforts to trace, emphasize, redact, and transform the image at hand into something captivating, alluring, lasting, and ineffable.
I use mixed materials on paper and canvas, fabrics and fibers, ink, acrylic, oils, watercolor, and pencil. My work ranges from abstract to figurative to portraiture. I have training in printmaking, bookbinding, filmmaking, and letterpress, and worked for many years as a studio assistant. My work with bodies as an acupuncturist in many ways reflects my work as an artist.
Liz Asch • artistlizasch@gmail.com • Portland, OR