Elizabeth Galvin

ARTIST'S STATEMENT
ELIZABETH S. GALVIN

This is probably not a great way to start an artist's statement, but I am highly suspicious of art writing, and doubly so of artists writing about their own art. Artists' statements seem to have so much promise for understanding the art, but they inevitably yield so little. You probably know the feeling: You're looking at a painting and there in your hand, like a lead weight, is this artist's statement that you feel you have to read because it will reveal some mystery, or unlock some secret. You probably hope that the statement will somehow enhance the art, and clarify it, but it never really does. Instead you inevitably get something like, "my art examines the triple intersection (the trintersection) of falsely-induced emotions, light and darkness, and the human condition." In other words, these statements usually give us nothing except for a vague notion that the artists are pulling one over on us. Usually I find myself muttering, "give me a break."

You will be relieved to know that I am not going to unlock any secrets for you, or reveal any mysteries, and that is exactly the point. For better or for worse I do not have the ability, or the desire, to intellectualize my art. Part of...

After her childhood in El Paso, Texas, Ms. Galvin attended Northwestern University in Chicago, graduating with a BS degree in journalism and advertising. As she began her advertising career in Chicago, she also began attending art courses at the Chicago Art Institute, thus starting her life-long passion for creating fine art.

Eventually Ms. Galvin returned to El Paso to work for the advertising firm of SWG&M where she eventually became a partner. There she directed innumerable projects in advertising art and wrote and illustrated children’s books. For the past sixteen years, she has devoted full time to painting in her studio in El Paso.

Recently Ms. Galvin has begun to add to her repertoire of imaginative, realistic paintings a venue into a world of more abstract image presentations.

ONE PERSON EXHIBITS

2000 Midnight Muse Collection, Counterpoint, El Paso, Texas.

2003 JME Studios, Las Cruces, New Mexico

2005 JME Studios, Las Cruces, New Mexico

GROUP EXHIBITS

1993 Arts International Annual Exhibit, El Paso, Texas (Jurors: AL BROLUILETE, artist; CLINT WILLOUR, Curator of Galveston Arts Center).

1994 Arts International Annual Exhibit, El Paso, Texas (Jurors: G. JOSEPH MOODY, artist; WILLIAM C. HOOK, artist).

1995 Two-person exhibit at Artspace 2300 Gallery, El Paso, Texas.

1997 Two-person exhibit at Museo de Arqueologia, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.

1998 Seven Plus Seven Exhibit, Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, Texas.

2000 Arts International Annual Exhibit, El Paso, Texas (Jurors: PAUL MILOSEVICH, artist; JOHN R. VINCENT, art coordinator for state of New Mexico). Third place in show for painting “Cibola One.”

2002 Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, Texas.

2006 Arts International Annual Exhibit, El Paso, Texas (Jurors: JUILIE SASSE, Curator---Tucson Museum of Art; BONNIE POSELLI, Pleine-Aire Impressionist, Salt Lake City, Utah).
Recipient of purchase reward for one painting.

2007 Arts International Annual Exhibit, El Paso, Texas (Juror: BOB R...