Bio:
An Artist and former fashion entrepreneur Elizabeth Ayerle works in a variety of modes that range from sculpture to wearable art and installation spaces. She transforms familiar domestic materials like quilting fabrics into otherworldly forms using techniques associated with crafting and women’s work. Grappling with our sense of self, its relationship to the body, and its presentation in society, Liz says, “I believe personal histories shape our perception of the world and consider most of my work to be self-portraiture, blurring concepts of mask and face, with perceptions of exterior vs. interior, as a means of understanding my own identity.”
Liz moved to San Diego in February of 2018 after completing her MFA at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She holds two undergraduate degrees including an Associate’s degree in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design and a Bachelor’s degree in Art History from Bucknell University. In her professional life she is best known for owning a women’s plus-size clothing store called Fresh Ayer (2007- 2012), which earned multiple awards and was recognized as an early proponent of body positive fashion.
Exhibitions:
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2020 Online Mask Exhibition & Competition; Port Townsend Wearable Art, Jefferson Community Foundation, Port Townsend, WA
2019 ManneqArt Competition Sculpture on the Human Form, Laurel, MD
2019 That’s What She Said…Artists Speak Out; Martha Pace Swift Gallery, Presented by FIG & The Expressive 2020 Arts Institute, San Diego, CA
2019 Port Townsend Wearable Art, Jefferson Community Foundation, Port Townsend, WA
2019 ManneqArt Competition Sculpture on the Human Form, Laurel, MD
2018 Hotels/Motels (Unofficial Art Fair), Fallen Tree Exhibitions; Contemporary Art In Redefined Spaces, The Lafayette Hotel,
Swim Club & Bungalows, San Diego, CA
2018 ManneqArt, Howard County Arts Council, Ellicott City, MD
2018 Art Night, Bar Basic, San Diego, CA
2018 Re-Union, Bishop's Stock Fine Art, Stockton, MD
2018 Bodies in Motion, The Chico Art Center, Chico, CA
2017 Tales from Otherwhere, The Buggy Factory presented by Centotto Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017 Presence (MFA Thesis Exhibition), Tuttleman Gallery, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2017 Manneq Art, Laurel, MD
2016 Our Bodies Ourselves, Gallery 128, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2015 It’s the Thought that Counts, Gallery 128, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2015 PROXIMITY, New Leaf Club, Rosemont, PA
2014 Holiday Benefit Show, JAM Gallery, Malvern, PA
Awards & Honors:
2017 Kathleen ‘Bunkey’ Frame Award, Graduate Award, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, PA
2017 Energy Theme Award, Sculpture on the Human Form, Manneq Art, Laurel, MD
Online Publications:
2015- 2017 Proximityarts.org: Founder and Publisher – Artist run visual arts blog, Philadelphia, PA
Affiliations & Memberships:
2019 Feminist Image Group (FIG), San Diego, CA, www.fig-art.blogspot.com(Ongoing)
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Education:
Degrees Earned:
2017 MFA, Studio, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2006 AAS, Fashion Design, New School/Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
2004 BA, Art History, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA