Elizabeth Gourlay
Primary Medium: Paint
Other media: Drawing, Mixed media
Email: egourlay (at) snet (dot) net
Website: http://eoartlab.com, geoform.com, TESfineart.com, dianebirdsallgallery.com
Artist Statement
I think of the work as a meditation on color and form. The drawings and paintings emerge from a gradual yet progressive meditation that leads to a complex network of shifting shapes and colors. The shapes and lines create my own vocabulary of abstract forms. They are resonances with inner emotional states, elements of feelings or sub-conscious thoughts combined with conscious thought about architecture and geometric structure.
I often begin with a background layer of washes and then work with elements of line and shape in the foreground. The color may become muted and minimal, admixing into greys and earth tones or they may be vibrant and intense. There are parallels in musical composition, as looking at the work is an interaction and the eye moves around the piece element to element, as musical note to musical note, chord, discord, harmony and tone.
This work also reflects other very diverse interests that have been ongoing: color and form found in nature, African textiles, (speci
Other media: Drawing, Mixed media
Email: egourlay (at) snet (dot) net
Website: http://eoartlab.com, geoform.com, TESfineart.com, dianebirdsallgallery.com
Artist Statement
I think of the work as a meditation on color and form. The drawings and paintings emerge from a gradual yet progressive meditation that leads to a complex network of shifting shapes and colors. The shapes and lines create my own vocabulary of abstract forms. They are resonances with inner emotional states, elements of feelings or sub-conscious thoughts combined with conscious thought about architecture and geometric structure.
I often begin with a background layer of washes and then work with elements of line and shape in the foreground. The color may become muted and minimal, admixing into greys and earth tones or they may be vibrant and intense. There are parallels in musical composition, as looking at the work is an interaction and the eye moves around the piece element to element, as musical note to musical note, chord, discord, harmony and tone.
This work also reflects other very diverse interests that have been ongoing: color and form found in nature, African textiles, (speci
Selected Works
|  geru 6 - 2007 - ink, watercolor, pencil on vellum on paper - 4" x 6" - $350.00  geru 8 - 2007 - ink, watercolor, pencil on vellum on paper - 4" x 6" - $350.00  poinciana 1 - 2007 - ink, watercolor, pencil on vellum on paper - 6" x 12" - $900.00  galium 1 - 2007 - ink, watercolor, pencil on vellum on paper - 3.5" x 7" - $500.00  galium 10 - 2007 - ink, watercolor, pencil on vellum on paper - 3" x 7" - $500.00 |
Artist Bio
EDUCATION
MFA in Painting, Yale University School of Art
New Haven, Connecticut, 1985
BA (First Class Honors), Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh, Scotland, 1983
Fellowship at Yale/Norfolk Summer School of Music & Art
Norfolk, Connecticut, 1982
AWARDS and COMMISSIONS
Invited artist to work with Master Printmaker and Artistic Director, Antony Kirk, at The Center for Cotemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT, 2007
A site-specific painting, Crossroads Professional Building, Waterford, CT, 2006
Two site-specific wall drawings, The Ashforth Company, Stamford, CT, 2003
Connecticut Commission on the Arts Fellowship Grant, 2000-2001
Fellowship Grant at The Vermont Studio Center
Johnson, VT, 1986, 1988 & 1993
The Andrew Grant Traveling Scholarship, Edinburgh College of Art, 1981 & 1982
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
369 Gallery ‘Elizabeth Gourlay, Paintings,' Edinburgh, Scotland, 1991
Paesaggio Gallery ‘Elizabeth Gourlay, Recent Paintings & Works on Paper' West Hartford, Connecticut, 2000
Paesaggio Gallery ‘Elizabeth Gourlay, Recent Paintings & Works on Paper,' West Hartford, Connecticut, 2001
Chester Gallery ‘Elizabeth Gourlay,' Chester, Connecticut, 2002
Paesaggio Gallery, ‘Elizabeth Gourlay, New Work', West Hartford, Connecticut, 2003
Cummings Arts Center at Connecticut College, ‘Elizabeth Gourlay, A Chronology', New London, Connecticut, 2004
Moira Fitzsimmons Arons Art Gallery, ‘Grids and Gardens', New Haven, Connecticut, 2005
Paesaggio Fine Art, ‘Elizabeth Gourlay, New Work', Hartford, Connecticut, 2005
Paesaggio Fine Art, ‘Saturated', Hartford, Connecticut, 2006
Diane Birdsall Gallery, ‘Etudes', Old Lyme, Connecticut, 2007
EO Art Lab, ‘Rhythmic Relativism', Chester, Connecticut, 2007
Diane Birdsall Gallery, ‘New Work', Old Lyme, Connecticut, 2008
The Gallery at Kinderhook Group, ‘The Color of Harmony', Salisbury. Connecticut, 2009
EO Art Lab, ‘Meridians', Chester, Connecticut, 2009
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
The Drawing Center ‘Selections 34,' New York, New York, 1986
Koslow Gallery ‘The Drawing Show, 1988' Los Angeles, California, 1988
Hecksher Museum ‘Curator's Choice/New Directions,' Huntington, New York, 1989
East Hampton Center For Contemporary Art ‘Contemporary Still Life,' East Hampton, New York, 1990
Maryland College of Art and Design ‘Measurement, Metaphor and Color,' Silver Spring, Maryland, 1994
Real Art Ways ‘The Connecticut Open,' Hartford, Connecticut, 1995
Chester Gallery ‘Elizabeth Gourlay/Melissa Greene,' Chester, Connecticut, 1996
100 Pearl Gallery ‘Elizabeth Gourlay, Sarah Lutz, Patricia Smith,' Hartford, Connecticut, 1996
Paesaggio Gallery ‘Elizabeth Gourlay/Mary Barringer,' West Hartford, Connecticut, 1997
Jorgensen Gallery, University of Connecticut ‘Eclectic Landscapes,' Storrs, Connecticut, 1997
100 Pearl Gallery ‘Squared Off,' Hartford, Connecticut, 1998
Anderson University ‘4 Painters: 4 Women,' Anderson, Indiana, 2000
Connecticut Commission on The Arts Fellowship Exhibition, Hartford, Connecticut, 2000
Widener Gallery, Trinity College ‘Sum + Substance,' Hartford, Connecticut, 2000
Paesaggio Gallery ‘Collecting at Paesaggio,' West Hartford, Connecticut, 2001
100 Pearl Gallery ‘Elizabeth Gourlay, Elizabeth Macdermid, Intersections,' Hartford, Connecticut, 2002
Paesaggio Gallery ‘Criss-Cross', Elizabeth Gourlay, Sol LeWitt, Ken Morgan, Cary Smith,
West Hartford, Connecticut, 2002
The Drawing Center, ‘The 25th Annual Drawing Center Benefit Exhibition', New York, New York, 2003
Paesaggio Gallery, ‘Physical Culture: Abstracts by Elizabeth Gourlay, Zbignew Gryzb, Letty Fonteyne, Elizabeth Macdermid and Pamela Stockamore', West Hartford, Connecticut, 2003
Bendheim Gallery,‘Crossing the Line-Elizabeth Gourlay/Zach Zaus',Greenwich, Connecticut, 2004
Kathryn Markel Fine Art, “picture of the wek”, flatfile, New York, New York, 2004-2005
Real Art Ways, ‘Work from