Elizabeth Turk

Brace's Emerald (Model)

2020

Mahogany

Born in Pasadena and raised in Orange County, Elizabeth Turk earned her M.F.A. at the Rinehart School of Sculpture, Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. In Turk’s work, the shape of the line is created by extreme loss. That is, the reductive process of carving creates a positive, fragile form in which the absence of the original material is a focus. Turk encourages us to consider how nature has shaped these organic materials long before the artist’s manipulation of them into new forms. When viewed as components in a complex natural system, their singular beauty and inherent mystery is revealed. Turk compels us to view works of art not only as objects to be coveted and collected, but also as expressions of the natural world and our evolving relation to it. A recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2010), a Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Fellowship (2010), and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2011), Turk is internationally recognized for transforming her signature medium of marble into strikingly intricate objects that defy convention and challenge our preconceptions of what marble can do. Through the use of electric grinders, dental tools...

Anodized aluminum (black)

Anodized aluminum (gold)

Medium: Charred and dyed basswood As an artist I strive to create elegant sculptures that capture the true essence of the subject matter. Form, line and surface are used as the visu...

Medium: Dyedwood As an artist I strive to create elegant sculptures that capture the true essence of the subject matter. Form, line and surface are used as the visual language. The ...

Medium: Bleached and Laquered Basswood As an artist I strive to create elegant sculptures that capture the true essence of the subject matter. Form, line and surface are used as the...

Medium: White washed wood As an artist I strive to create elegant sculptures that capture the true essence of the subject matter. Form, line and surface are used as the visual langu...