Liz Shea is a free-lance designer in Lincoln who earned both her Bachelor of Science Degree in Education and her Master’s Degree in Textile Design from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Liz has served as an Artist-in Residence for the Nebraska Arts Council since 1991. She has been published and won local, regional and national recognition for her work.

Currently Liz is communicating primarily through printmaking and sensual textures created through collage techniques, finding uneven, aged and torn edges of found or prepared materials to use as integral components in her designs. More recently, she has included assemblage and oil painting techniques to create unique and impressive compositions.

“I am fascinated with the elements of nature. I love capturing a feeling of extreme age and often incorporate subtle, earthy color schemes within my work. My preference for the dark end of the value scale affords my work a depth which allows the viewer personal interpretation as well as the ability to step back in time. I have always loved printmaking and am infatuated with the collage process losing myself in compositional development by tearing, cutting, layering and pasting together materials. Not only do I enjoy searching for interesting found elements to incorporate in my work, but also utilize printed images I have created for the collage process.”

Liz’ skillful manipulation of materials and finely tuned sensitivity to space and composition are visible in the overall designs of her sophisticated collage, assemblage and painted compositions. Her solid foundation in printmaking and in textile design continues to be an important part of her creative process. In regard to her creative work, Liz strives to allow each material to display its unique qualities while helping to orchestrate and define space.

“Art for me is a personal journey. Each concept and type of medium I experience serves as a building block for future works. I can confidently say that my current work would not seem as complete to me if I would not have had such in-depth experiences in textiles and fibers. Right now the media I am exploring  seems to perfectly convey my feelings aesthetically and artistically. I continue to surprise myself with the ever changing styles which I use to reflect my ideas, but I suppose that is what art is: evolving with internal and external change, yet never forgetting where you’ve been and, more importantly, portraying those changes visually.”