Artist Info

Liz Ensz Artist Statement I make decorative system-based patterns that are narrative and socially critical. The ideas of repetition and variation interest me as a metaphor for the to the conformity of people within large groups.

In a silkscreen repeat pattern when the rules of registration are followed, order is upheld. Breaking the system can result in a module being printed upside down, or in the wrong color, or misplaced entirely. In a system with a prescribed course and outcome, spontaneity and variation are undesirable and create disruption and irregularity. The regularity of following the system is calming and disarming because of its visual stability.

In "Gas Pump Floral Motif," I have used a floral motif and geometric structure inspired by Islamic decorative tile and introduced my own imagery as a critique of American car culture and its dependence on foreign oil. The importance of each module being printed on register to fit within the greater pattern parallels the importance of foreign to the United State's guidelines for international policy, as well as American beliefs about the Iraq War. Liz Ensz Bio Liz Ensz was born in Minnesota in 1983 and has lived in Minneapolis and Baltimore. She excelled in painting and drawing and attended the Perpich Center fir Arts Education, a public magnet high school near Minneapolis when she was 16. While at PCAE she recieved the National Silver Portfolio Award from the Scholastic Art Awards.

In Minneapolis, Liz exhibited paintings, drawings, and sculpture at the Soap Factory, the Purple Onion, the Ford Center, in Calhoun Square, and yes, at the Mall of America.

She recieved a BFA in Fiber from the Maryland Inststitue College of Art in 2005. Liz has worked as a studio assistant for Baltimore artists Susie Brandt, Piper Shepard, Lisa Dillon, and Steve Davy, and since graduating she has been in Minnesota doing freelance fashion design, has worked at Franconis Sculpture Park's Kids Make Sculpture, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design's Summer Studio Kids, and taught Soft Sculpture at PCAE.

She has recently exhibited in Minneapolis at Altered Esthetics and PCAE, and in Baltimore at Maryland Art Place, the Current Gallery, and the Park School's Richman Gallery (Art on Purpose).

In 2005, Liz recieved the Gelman Travel Grant and is currently in Spain making art inspired by Moorish Architecture.