Liz Foster trained at the Glasgow School of Art, studying Drawing and Painting in the Mack. She has gone on to establish herself as a committed and experimental painter centering her practice around gestural abstraction and an intelligent use of colour. Her work is both thoughtful and playful, with the enjoyment of the physical qualities of paint always at the core of what she does.
Foster has also built a career in art education having taught in both college settings and in the community.
Liz Foster is currently based in York, in the north of England.
Statement
"My work explores ideas of repetition and pattern, creating systems and rhythms that reference the natural, human-made and auditory environment. From threads in cloth to lamp posts punctuating a street. Referencing Gestalt, I create compositions from the reiteration of smaller parts, prompting the viewer to ‘join the dots’. I’ve always been interested in gaps between objects and ideas of space. This can be a physical space - in a room for example, created by walls and furniture, or a more metaphorical space or gap, created by someones absence.
My work is process-led, and each painting begins with intuitive marks and colour then is developed over several months with the adding, removing, and editing of worked areas. The final composition only comes to realization in the later stages of the process. Thoughtful use of colour remains a constant in my work. I’m constantly examining how our perception (and appreciation) of colour changes within a painting depending on where it's placed".
Editorial
'Featured Artist' - An Interview with the Visual Artists Association - CLICK HERE TO READ
'Meet the Artists' - Q&A with ONE GOOD GIFT - CLICK HERE TO READ
'Aesthetic grit and fish & chips' - Interview with Northern Soul focusing on my textile design work - CLICK HERE TO READ
Training
1990-1994, Glasgow School of Art, B.A. (hons), Fine Art (Drawing and Painting)
1993, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Student Exchange Scholarship
2002-2004, The University of Hull, M.A. Painting
Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
Group Show, Partisan, York
JOY, The Dovecot Gallery, Styrrup - July 30th-31st
Selected Exhibitions
2022 Ferens Open, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
2022 Art on a Postcard, The Bomb Factory, London
2022 Colour, Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield
2021 The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London
2021 The Edit, One Good Gift, Sheffield
2021 Towards the Light, The Art Cafe Contemporary Gallery, Whitby
2021 Re-Cultivate, Cultivate Gallery, London (online)
2020 New Light ‘Curator’s Choice’, Scarborough Art Gallery, Scarborough
2019 Ferens Open, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
2019 YOS Exhibition, St Mary’s Arts Centre, York
2017 Spring Exhibition, The Art Café, Whitby
2009 Summer Show, The Art Café, Whitby
2008 magical/mystical/nature, Friar Lane Gallery, Nottingham
2007 Flower, Beningbrough Hall, York (solo)
2007 Miscellany, Beningbrough Hall, York (solo)
2006 Taste, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe (solo)
2006 Multiplicity, Kirkleatham Museum and Art Gallery, Redcar
2005 Gallery Show, Blue Wing Gallery, Padstow, Cornwall
2004 Painting is Dead, Long Live Painting, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery
2004 Women’s Work, Artlink Gallery, Hull
2003 Unframed, Cupola Art Gallery, Sheffield
1999 New Paintings, Air Gallery, London (solo)
1998 Paintings, Taunton School, Somerset (solo)
1997 York Open, York City Art Gallery, York
1995 6×6, University of Northumbria, Newcastle
1994 New Generation, The Compass Gallery, Glasgow
1994 Paths of Exploration, The Assembly Rooms, Glasgow
1993 R.S.A. Student Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Art Fairs
2021 art&York online
2019 art&York
2008 London Art Fair (Represented by Beverley Knowles Fine Art)