Demo Reel cut on May 1st, 2009.
Where I belong
Most of this book was eagerly read under a huge pine tree, while my butt was going numb from the hard ground and the spiky pine needles. I didn’t want to move, because that meant taking a break. The book explains the departments at Aardman Animations (creators of Wallace and Gromit) and how the amateur film maker can use Aardman’s techniques to make their own animations. I found what I was looking for: a creative career that includes film and sculpting that is slow and yet deadline based, focused on details, repetition and getting it right the first time!
To read the rest of the article, click here.
Something Catch Your Eye?
To visit the online etsy store, full of photos and descriptions, click here. It’s an easy to navigate site. Purchase using PayPal and the art will be promptly mailed to you.
To inquire if a piece of artwork on this portfolio site is for sale, send an email to elizabeth@elizabethsymington.com.
Cactus Lights are for sale online at my etsy store.
More photos of the available cactus lights are here.
Book of Braille Sculptures
Using an online bookstore, I published a book of photos and activities about my Braille sculptures. The book is called Decoding Color. To preview the first 15 of the 40 pages, check it out at Blurb’s bookstore.
Synopsis of Decoding Color-
Learning a seemingly random skill for a sighted artist- reading Braille, was an exciting adventure into another world full of raised picture books and mental decoding gymnastics.
Beautiful photos of the tactile artwork identifies color through texture. There are activities that explain the basics of decoding Braille, such as the alphabet, punctuation, and numbers. Along with a blank template to write your own Braille.
$7 of each book sold goes to the artist to further her artistic endeavors. Thank you for your support.
The next book will be about the current artwork I am creating themed around tipis. To follow the progress of the art, keep checking in at my blog.
From Braille Art to Creating Giant Tipis
In June, spur of the moment I bought a 1-way Amtrak ticket to Portland, Oregon. The plan was not to set a schedule, but to be free to move around to any state. I call my 7 week adventure, “My liberating trip from BART,” because it was the waiting for the commuter train, BART, that drove me away from San Francisco.
Traveling around Oregon and Washington was one big field trip. I saw sculptures by amazing artists and visited libraries to read books in Braille in every city! While in Portland, Oregon, I was fortunate to work for two wonderful, female sculptors. Over the 7 weeks I wrote like crazy, sketching down ideas for future sculptures and read “What Color is Your Parachute?” by Richard Nelson Bolles. For each day of my adventure, I posted photos and a journal on my blog.
Sometimes I slept at a friend’s house or if I didn’t know anyone in the city, I’d crash at a hostel. On an island in the Puget Sound, near Seattle, I slept in a tipi. It was a childhood dream come true! As a kid, my mom would ask me what I wanted to be for Halloween. The response was always “an Indian.” I’d not only wear the costume trick-or-treating but to the grocery store, playing in the woods, or to the airport going on vacation.
From that trip, a series of artwork is climbing out of my mind from my hands: modified juggling clubs, village of 10 foot tipis, hanging stretch lights…Check out the creations in progress on my blog weird and surprisingly good.