Beth Ames Swartz

Instagram:

My series explore different systems of knowledge, both ones well known and some more esoteric, translating their philosophical concepts into aesthetic visual experiences.

Uniting my art is its conceptual inspiration rather than a consistent visual style. I frequently include words and symbols from many philosophic and religious systems thereby facilitating communication with viewers on both conscious and unconscious levels.

My art and life changed when I moved from New York City to Arizona in 1959. The desert became my mentor after two rafting trips down the Colorado River in the early 70’s. Exposed to the dignity and continuity of nature’s abiding cycles, I felt the need to translate visually my reverence for the earth. These life-changing experiences morphed my early landscapes into a new aesthetic language. Often employing pilgrimage and ritual, I explored fire as an art form in an effort to go deeper into my practice and bring elemental energy into my painting. I mutilated and burnt large heavy scrolls of paper, incorporated fire, earth, paint and other materials until the paintings were transformed, recapitulating nature’s life cycle of ordering (birth), disordering (death), and reordering (rebirth).

My art p...

New York University, Attended 1958-60, Master of Arts

Cornell University, Attended 1953-57, Bachelor of Science

For my full CV, visit bethamesswartz.com

Upcoming Exhibition: "Coming to Terms", July 21, 2023 - April 29, 2024, Center Space inside Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

One-Person Art Exhibitions

2020 Shemer Art Center, Purification of the Heart, November 4, 2020-February 18, 2021.

Phoenix, AZ

2018 Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa, Beth Ames Swartz, January 11

February 14, 2018. Paradise Valley, AZ

2016 Arizona Jewish Historical Society, Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World), October 16,

2016-January 20, 2017. Phoenix, AZ

2015 Walter Art Gallery, A Moving Point of Balance, March 11-17, 2015. Scottsdale, AZ

2014 PHX Architecture, Homage, March 18-22, 2014. Scottsdale, AZ

2012 ACA Galleries, Different Voices, Unique Visions, March 17-April 28, 2012. New

York, NY

2011 Paradise Valley Town Hall, Beth Ames Swartz: Early Works on Paper, October 11,

2011-October 4, 2012. Paradise Valley, ...