ArtHelix is pleased to present a new series of paintings by the artist Elizabeth Gourlay.

“I think of the work as a meditation on color and form. The drawings and paintings emerge from a gradual yet progressive meditation that leads to a complex network of shifting shapes and colors. The shapes and lines create my own vocabulary of abstract forms. They are resonances with inner emotional states, elements of feelings or sub-conscious thoughts combined with conscious thought about color, form and geometric structure.

 

I often begin with a background layer of washes and then work with elements of line and shape in the foreground. The color may become muted and minimal, admixing into greys and earth tones or they may be vibrant and intense. There are parallels in musical composition, as looking at the work is a dynamic interaction and the eye moves around the piece element to element. The result is a play of tones, chords, dissonances and harmonies.”

 

– Elizabeth Gourlay, 2014

 

Following a fellowship at the Yale/Norfolk Summer School of Music and Art, Elizabeth Gourlay went on to receive a BA with First Class Honors from Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland, and an MFA in painting from Yale University School of Art. She has been awarded several grants and fellowships, including two Individual Artist Grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Elizabeth shows her work nationally and internationally, most notably at The Drawing Center, MASS MoCA, The National Academy and School of Fine Arts, The Cummings Arts Center at Connecticut College, The Hecksher Museum and the Widener Gallery at Trinity College.