Elizabeth Wilson
Road To Gay Head, 1999
Gouache on paper
Image: 8-3/4 x 9-1/2"
Framed: 15-3/4 x 16-1/2"

Artist Statement
I am a representational painter based in Philadelphia, known mostly for my intimate gouache landscape paintings of the British Isles. My paintings have been described as small gems, luminous and having a quiet energy which I think is apt. Largely inspired by travel, my work is a direct response to the environment. Predominantly a landscape painter, I have also worked extensively with the figure and still life. The painting "Road To Gay Head" evolved out of a series of gouache paintings that began in the United Kingdom several years earlier. A visit to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts in the early 1990's inspired a small series of paintings in both oil and in gouache after returning which were created off and on over the next several years. I was particularly struck by the town of Gay Head and recall stopping on the side of the road to take photographs--I knew it would make a great painting. I was intrigued by the juxtapositions of the road, patch of water, patches of greenery, electric posts, rocks, overcast sky and the little New England house in the distance. That little house, subtle in the painting hidden in the shadows was really the focus and the heart of the painting. It is ubiquitous with New England architecture. The town of Gay Head has since been renamed Aquinnah, in honor of the Native American Indian Wampanoag Tribe, the original inhabitants of the area.

Artist Bio
Elizabeth Wilson is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and attended the Corcoran School of Art and University of Pennsylvania. She has exhibited extensively throughout the United States in curated, juried and solo exhibitions, including a solo museum exhibition at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in 2022. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Academy of Design and Asheville Art Museum. Gallery affiliations have included Marian Locks Gallery (Philadelphia), The More Gallery (Philadelphia), Gallery Henoch (New York), Gross McCleaf Gallery (Philadelphia), Mulligan Shanoski Gallery (San Francisco), F.A.N. Gallery (Philadelphia). Permanent public collections include the Woodmere Art Museum, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Convention Center Art Collection, McGraw Hill Publishing Company, Bryn Mawr College, among others. Her work is in numerous private collections throughout the United States and United Kingdom. She was a longtime drawing and design professor at several universities in Philadelphia and invited to teach painting workshops at the Art Students League of New York and JSS in Civita in Italy, where she also had a residency. Reviews, interviews and profiles of her work have appeared in numerous printed and online publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer, ARTnews Magazine, Painting Perceptions, Philadelphia Magazine, Stories from PAFA, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, Catamaran Arts & Literature Magazine, The Jewish Exponent, John Thornton films via the RustyScupperton Network, among many others.