Interview with Artist Elizabeth Waggett

AHC: Can you tell us a bit about your process, themes & inspirations?

Elizabeth: My technique and process are both continuously evolving. However at the moment I'm absolutely fixed on the context — which is a social commentary on the human desire to balance purpose and greed. Often my pieces look into a specific notion around that subject. For instance the animal pieces are a reflection of society's disregard for nature and that which has innate value, preferring instead those things that bring us moments of pleasure, material or otherwise. 

My most recent piece Manifest Destiny - The Peacemaker is a special look at the ironies of man and war. The work is a commentary on how man’s ingenuity in war has always outpaced those mechanisms he has created to sustain peace.The angles at which the guns are portrayed hint at the ever-present possibility of war and the fragility of peace.

AHC: What first drew you to art? Was there a specific moment in your life or turning point where it became clear to you that you were being called to create?

Elizabeth: I can't remember a time when I wasn't creating. Some of my earliest and best memories are of making or building things with my mother or grandparents. There have definitely been pivotal moments in my life that have moved me in certain directions but creating/making is something I was born to do.


AHC: Who are some of your artistic influences? Is there anyone outside of the art world who has had a huge impact on your work or who just generally inspires you, writers, filmmakers, musicians, philosophers etc?

Elizabeth: I often feel very inspired by artists techniques but most of my contextual inspiration comes from people or nature. People with a fire inside them and those who are hungry for life inspire me. There is so much to learn through anything from brief conversations with strangers to following the works of greats. The more difficult task has become selecting the inspiration to act upon.
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AHC: Can you talk about your work around the gold standard and your ideas about how we devalue those things with innate value while celebrating objects with little to no innate value or practical and cultural use?

Elizabeth: While we all rightfully have our own desires and goals, my work attempts to look into the irony of man. The fact remains that there seems to be no end to the destruction we are willing to do to the earth and each other for personal and financial gain. In the end all that we will have destroyed will make that for which we have destroyed it, worthless. A more personal way of looking at this is thinking about the added-value we will have left when we are gone. Have you existed or lived? Is it just numbers or positive change?


AHC: What is the first work of art you encountered that took your breath away?

Elizabeth: I was completely floored when I saw Henri Rousseau's The Dream in the Musee d'Orse in Paris. I was 17 and just starting to understand art on a personal level rather than from the point of art history. It was a particularly emotional event/piece and although I feel deeply moved by many works nothing has quite matched that 'first' experience. I imagine the feeling will be similar when I finally get to see a full scale Christo.
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AHC: Do you have any upcoming exhibits or new projects you'd like to tell people about?

Elizabeth: Yes, I'm very excited to be a part of the Texas Contemporary Art Fair on the 29th-2nd October. I also will be exhibiting in Portland in October and am incredibly excited to exhibit for the first time at Art Miami in December. I've also just completed my biggest piece to date for a private collector.


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All images © Elizabeth Waggett

For more information visit www.elizabethwaggett.com