Elizabeth Gourlay studied Drawing and Painting at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Yale University. Her work has been exhibited and studied in both museums and galleries throughout New York, Connecticut, California, Maryland, and Indiana most notably the Cummings Arts Center at Connecticut College, The Hecksher Museum, The Drawing Center in New York City, and the Widener Gallery at Trinity College.

Gourlay’s work represents a process of layering color and form based on fusing the act of painting with imagination, feeling, and experience. This threshold is characterized by the tension between the seeming order presented by a grid, a line, or a geometric object and the actual visual imperfection of these elements. The colors, so acutely and effectively selected, resonate and vibrate and jockey for prominence. The thickness or length of a line, the orientation or position of an object, the breadth or narrowness of the space in between all activate our sense of composition and motivate our desire for meaning.

Gourlay’s paintings are allegorical. They speak of science as they document experiments with Cartesian planes and bar graphs. They speak of music as shapes represent sound and colors represent volume. They also speak of history and culture through overlapping layers of seemingly worn or tattered paper, unraveling threads of ancient textiles, and scattered symbolic imagery juxtaposed with repetitive patterning.

Gourlay is working in a way that has infinite possibilities. She sees entire worlds within the simplest of gestures. Even at her young age, she has realized incredible acclaim and attention. It is a unique privilege to be presenting her work at eo art lab.

commissioned & site specific works are available from each artist; please call the gallery for details.

education

Yale University School of Art, MFA, New Haven, Connecticut
Edinburgh College of Art, BA (first class honors), Edinburgh, Scotland
Fellowship at Yale/Norfolk Summer School of Music & Art, Norfolk, Connecticut

solo exhibitions

2012     Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
2011     Selested Paintings & Works On Paper, Brick Walk Fine Art, West Hartford, Connecticut
2009    Meridians, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2008    The Color of Harmony, The Gallery at Kinderhook Group, Salisbury, Connecticut
2008    New Work, Diane Birdsall Gallery, Old Lyme, Connecticut
2007    Rhythmic Relativism, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2007    Etudes, Diane Birdsall Gallery, Old Lyme, Connecticut
2006    Saturated, Paesaggio Fine Art, Hartford, Connecticut
2005    Elizabeth Gourlay, Paesaggio Fine Art, Hartford, Connecticut
2005    Grids and Gardens, Moira Fitzsimmons Arons Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
2004    Elizabeth Gourlay, A Chronology, Cummings Arts Center at Connecticut College, New         London, Connecticut
2003    Elizabeth Gourlay, New Work, Paesaggio Fine Art, West Hartford, Connecticut
2002    Elizabeth Gourlay, Recent Paints & Works on Paper, Chester Gallery, Chester, Connecticut
2001    Elizabeth Gourlay, Recent Paints & Works on Paper, Paesaggio Fine Art,  West Hartford, Connecticut
2000   Elizabeth Gourlay, Recent Paints & Works on Paper, Paesaggio Fine Art, West Hartford, Connecticut
1991    Elizabeth Gourlay, Paintings, 369 Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

group exhibitions

2012     Modesty: a Policy, The Bogart Salon, Bushwick, New York
2011     An Exchange with Sol LeWitt, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art,  North Adams, Massachusetts
2011     Shared Sensibilities: Sol LeWitt and His Friends, The Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury,  Connecticut
2011     Synesthesia, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2011     Abstract Principles, Fairfield Art Center, Fairfield, Connecticut
2011     Out of Line, Artspace, New Haven, Connecticut
2011     Abstracted, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts
2011     Off the Grid: Selected Works on Paper by Elizabeth Gourlay and Peter
Acheson, Brickwalkfine Art,  West Hartford, Connecticut
2011     The San Francisco Art Fair, eo art lab, San Francisco, CA
2011     Library Science, Artspace, New Haven, Connecticut
2010    Shared Response, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2010    Give & Take, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2009    Push & Pull, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2009    In the Middle, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2008    Red Dot Miami, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2008    The 183rd Annual: an Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National     Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, New York, New York
2008    Focus New Haven: A Collection of Works on Paper, New Haven, Connecticut
2008    Group Experiment, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2008    Group Dynamics, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2008    Group Therapy, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2008    Red Dot New York, eo art lab, Chester, Connecticut
2007    The Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Blue Print, Norwalk, Connecticut
2005    Work From the LeWitt Collection, Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut
2004    Crossing the Line – Elizabeth Gourlay/Zach Zaus, Bendheim Gallery, Greenwich,
Connecticut
2003    Physical Culture: Abstracts by Elizabeth Gourlay, Zbignew Gryzb, Letty Fonteyne, Elizabeth Macdermid and Pamela Stockamore, Paesaggio Gallery, West Hartford, Connecticut
2003    The 25th Annual Drawing Center Benefit Exhibition, The Drawing Center, New York, New York
2002    Criss-Cross (Elizabeth Gourlay, Sol LeWitt, Ken Morgan and Cary Smith), Paesaggio Gallery, West Hartford, Connecticut
2002    Elizabeth Gourlay, Elizabeth Macdermid, Intersections, 100 Pearl Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut
2001    Collecting at Paesaggio, Paesaggio Gallery, West Hartford, Connecticut
2000    Sum + Substance, Widener Gallery, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
2000    Connecticut Commission on The Arts Fellowship Exhibition, Hartford, Connecticut
2000    4 Painters: 4 Women, Anderson University, Anderson, Indiana
1998    Squared Off, 100 Pearl Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut
1997    Eclectic Landscapes, Jorgensen Gallery, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
1997    Elizabeth Gourlay/Mary Barringer, Paesaggio Gallery, West Hartford, Connecticut
1996    Elizabeth Gourlay, Sarah Lutz, Patricia Smith, 100 Pearl Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut
1996    Elizabeth Gourlay/Melissa Greene, Chester Gallery, Chester, Connecticut
1995    The Connecticut Open, Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut
1994    Measurement, Metaphor and Color, Maryland College of Art and Design, Silver Spring,
Maryland
1990    Contemporary Still Life, East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art, East Hampton,
New York
1989    Curator’s Choice/New Directions, Hecksher Museum, Huntington, New York
1988    The Drawing Show, 1988, Koslow Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1986    Selections 34, The Drawing Center, New York, New York

collections

Nature Genetics
The Marriot Family
Agnes & William Peele
Alliance Capital Management
Edinburgh College of Art
The LeWitt Collection
SAFECO Corporation
The Ashforth Company
The New London Cancer Center
The Smilow Cancer Hospital
The Vermont Studio Center
Yves Gonnet, Inc.

awards, commissions, honors

2011    Invited artist in residence, studio of Sol LeWitt, Spoleto, Italy
2007    selected to work with Master Printmaker & Artistic Director of the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, Connecticut
2006    A site-specific painting for the Crossroads Professional Building, Waterford, Connecticut
2003    Two site-specific wall drawings, The Ashforth Company, Stamford, Connecticut
2001-   Connecticut Commission on the Arts Fellowship Grant
2000
1993    Fellowship Grant at The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
1988    Fellowship Grant at The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
1986    Fellowship Grant at The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
1981 –  The Andrew Grant Traveling Scholarship, Edinburgh College of Art,
1982    Edinburgh, Scotland

publications

Julie Karabenick, ed., inclusion on Geoform.net, an online scholarly resource curatorial project & international forum focusing on the use of geometric form & structure in contemporary abstract art.
Dennis Barone, Parallel Lines cover, cello 7, 2011
Nature Genetics, cover, ramie 1, May 2011
Sharon Butler, Elizabeth Gourlay’s Simple Means, Two Coats of paint, October 22, 2009
Nature Genetics, cover, medlar orange, March 2009
John Haber, Supersize Me, New York Art Critic, June 2008
Steve Starger, Physical Culture: Abstracts by Elizabeth Gourlay, Zbigiew Grzyb, Letty Fonteyne, Elizabeth Macdermid and Pamela Stockamore, Art New England, December 2003/January 2004
Ken Johnson, Art Review; Lifelike, Abstract or Funky, What Exactly Is a Drawing?, The New York Times, September 2002
Patricia Rosoff, What am I Suppose to Think? How to Read the Abstraction of LeWitt, Gourlay, Morgan and Smith, The Hartford Advocate, September 2002
Liz Gwillim, Elizabeth Gourlay Takes Her Next Artistic Step, Main Street News, June 2002
Matt Damsker, Elizabeth Gourlay Evokes Emotion From Structured Shapes, The Hartford Courant, April 2000

teaching

2011     Concepts in Two Dimensions, Visiting Assistant Professor in Art at Connecticut College
2010 -   Color Theory, Two-Dimensional Design and Painting, Instructor, CE program, RISD
present