Elizabeth Barick Fall

Liz Barick Fall is a Michigan artist working in photography, mixed media assemblage and installation. She finds inspiration in the ever-changing combination of materials, images and methods she uses, conjuring renewed purposes and stories out of cast-off vintage goods, her eclectic collection of natural and manmade materials and her photos. The results yield an unexpected combination of contrasting materials laden with personal meaning andncommentary on contemporary social and environmental issues. With a BFA from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Metalsmithing from Cranbrook Academy of Art, she developed and ran production jewelry and home accessories businesses and taught Metalwork and Jewelry Design at The University of Michigan and Adrian College, and Foundational Design at Washtenaw Community College while raising her 4 daughters. Currently, she is the founder and director of TrustArt Studios and Barickuda Gallery, an artists' work and exhibit space in Ann Arbor, which she launched in 2012 to develop opportunities for creative collaboration in her community. Her recent work has been exhibited in numerous juried, invitational, and solo shows regionally and nationally, featured in Create!, I Like Your Work, and New Visionary Art magazines, and can be found in private collections in the US and Europe.

Artist Statement

My work is an amalgam of curated materials, found objects and photo images that I collect. To puzzle together each piece, I choose a combination of these things to best convey the content I have in mind. Sometimes I use assemblage as the only means to complete a work. Often, I incorporate my photos by using encaustic medium to transfer them onto various cast-off objects, usually combined with a variety of other materials, to create assemblages and installations. Regardless of content, my work is tied together by certain attributes and reverence for process. Attention to detail, craftsmanship, purposeful juxtaposition of materials, and deliberate consideration of every element is found in each piece. I consider the context and inspiration within the materials themselves, from their aesthetic qualities to the intrinsic meaning they may carry. These aspects are integral to the content and integrity of the work. I am interested in the intersection/effect of humankind's social constructs with the various environments in which we live, and how those places and interactions inhabit and affect us. The natural world, the landscape, domestic life, and architecture permeate my imagery and materials. I draw from a deep observation and meditation of the incredible beauty of nature, human made environmental impact and climate change, themes of female, patriarchal oppression, nostalgia, memory, and documenting the passage of time.