Elizabeth Criss

Elizabeth Criss is a Los Angeles–based artist whose work transforms everyday materials and overlooked spaces into imaginative, engaging experiences. A graduate of California State University, Northridge, with a B.A. in Art, she combines an optimistic use of color, inventive assemblage, and a commitment to environmental sustainability.

Repurposed materials play a central role in Criss’s work. Discarded plastics, medicine bottles, and other unexpected materials become elements of underwater worlds and dimensional installations that invite viewers to look again at what we throw away. Her work encourages reflection on plastic pollution and our relationship with the natural world, while emphasizing the creative possibilities of reuse.

Public art has been another enduring focus of her practice. Criss has created murals and dimensional installations for schools, public libraries, environmental facilities, and programs serving people with disabilities. Her involvement began when she enrolled her non-verbal daughter in a special education school and recognized an opportunity to make the school environment more welcoming and inspiring. Over the following decade, she transformed school corridors with colorful assemblage panoramas designed t...

California State University, Northridge
B.A. in Art, Cum Laude, 1977

Selected Public Art Installations | California, USA

2026 -- Underwater Bottleneck, Adams Square Mini Park, Glendale, CA

2023 — Message in a Bottle, Wildling Museum, Solvang, CA

2018 — Fishnado, Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind, Reseda, CA

2010 — Remarkable Pos-Abilities Mural, Lokrantz School, Reseda, CA

2009 — American Spirit Arena, Leichman High School, Reseda, CA

2006 — The Garden of Novel Fanfare, Chinatown Branch Library, Los Angeles, CA

2004 — Flock of Books, Valley Plaza Branch Library, North Hollywood, CA

2000 — Amoebas in Action, Burbank Water Reclamation Facility, Burbank, CA

1997 — Crated Culture, Shirley Avenue Elementary School, Reseda, CA