Here is an excerpt from an Arkansas Art Scene Blog interview artist Elizabeth Weber, a recipient of ACNMWA’s Artist Award and a featured artist in the ACNMWA Artist Registry.
AAS: Elizabeth, I believe you are originally from upstate New York? What brought you to Arkansas?
EW: Yes, I grew up in beautiful and lush upstate New York. My love of nature drew me to the mountains and natural beauty of New Paltz, New York, to pursue my formal art training even though I had been offered an art scholarship to Syracuse University.
After graduating, I moved to Manhattan where I lived for several years before moving to Los Angeles, California. I lived and worked for over twelve years there, creating and developing my craft. While in LA I also painted theatre sets for an ADA and NAACP award winning playwright.
A sense of community, connection, and service to others has always been important to me, and I applied for the Peace Corps. The plan was to go to Africa, and as I travelled back across country to visit with my family in New York while I waited for my assignment, I stopped briefly (or so I thought) in Little Rock. A close friend lived here whose mom was a talented networker. I was looking to try and get some of my paintings placed while I was out of the country. My first morning here, I went to meet my friend for coffee and overheard people talking about the Friday night art walk, and a particular gallery. I knew I had better pay attention to the universe throwing clues at my feet, so I went by a Staples, bought some cd’s and went back to my friend’s mom’s house where I was staying and put together promotional materials I could hand out. We only had time to go to one gallery, but I left there with an invitation to have work in their next exhibit.
Soon after that, I heard about, applied for, and was hired to create art with the patients at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. I realized that I could be of service here, withdrew my Peace Corps application and started building my community in Little Rock.
In 2016, I bought my first home that is surrounded by the woods, where I finally had enough room to create as I have always dreamed. It has both a painting and a sculpture studio, and I can see the stars at night.
See the rest of the interview here.