Elizabeth Frank

I'm a carved wood and mixed media artist living in southern Arizona, seventy miles north of the US/Mexico border. This region of the Sonoran Desert is known for its sky islands, mountain ranges that rise abruptly from the desert or grasslands. The varied topography creates ecosystems of exceptionally high biodiversity.

A guiding ethic in my life is to walk lightly on the Earth. To honor that ethic, I create my pieces predominantly from sustainable, found, and reclaimed materials. In summer or fall, I visit aspen forests in Arizona and northern New Mexico to collect naturally downed wood for my carvings. I view each forest sojourn as a pilgrimage.

For my artwork, I have chosen a style that blends the folkloric, mythic, and sacred. In my visual narrative, current and dire sociopolitical issues, such as threats to the natural world, and causes for human migration mix with reasons to be hopeful and beauty to celebrate.

Whether inspired by walking in the forests or deserts of the Southwest, observing the trees, cacti, ravens, or owls, helping to free a coyote from a steel jaw trap, or witnessing people walking silently, single file across the desert from the US/Mexico border in search of safety, I make art to keep my life in balanc...

2004 TINSMITHING WORKSHOP, Sipasa Studio, Albuquerque, NM
1999 SCULPTURE WORKSHOP, Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
1984-1986 BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, Arizona State University, Tempe, Az
1978-1981 University of Arizona, Tucson, course work toward degrees in Dance and Studio Art

2024
TRIANGLE L RANCH, The Happy Show, Oracle, AZ
ART SANTA FE, Santa Fe, NM

2023
EXOTIC SUBLIME-on a wing, Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, AZ
BIG IDEAS! SMALL WORKS, Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, AZ
2023 SANTA CRUZ VALLEY OPEN STUDIO TOUR
SCULPTURE FESTIVAL, Tucson, AZ
ART SANTA FE, Santa Fe, NM

2022
ART SANTA FE, Santa Fe, NM
LA QUINTA ART CELEBRATION , La Quinta, CA
SCULPTURE FESTIVAL, Tucson, AZ
SITE BROOKLYN, The Figure, Brooklyn, CA
HARLOW GARDENS, Holiday Art Market, Tucson AZ
TUCSON MUSEUM OF ART, Fall Artisans Market, Tucson, AZ

2021
WAYNE ART CENTER, Craftforms 2021, Wayne, PA
TUCSON MUSEUM OF ART, Fall Artisans Market, Tucson, AZ
SHEMER ART CENTER, Creative Knots-wood and fiber exhibition, Phoenix, AZ
HARLOW GARDENS, Holiday Art Market, Tucson, AZ
SCULPTURE TUCSON, Rough Terrain-Inaugural Sculpture Park Exhibition, Tucson, AZ
2019
TUBAC CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Mythos-four figurative artist invititational, Tubac, AZ
SUNSHINE SHOP, Kinetics and Aesthetics, TUCSON, AZ
SCULPTURE TUCSON, Tucson, AZ
CONTRERAS GALLERY, Small Works, Tucson, AZ
CHERRY CREEK ARTS FESTIVAL, Denver, CO
VERUM ULTIMUM GALLERY, Chasing Ghosts IV, Portland, OR
2018
GALERÍA SENITA, Tucson Loteria, Tucson, AZ
CONTRERAS GALLERY, The Little Big Art Show, Tucson,...