_Landscape Series #2_Elizabeth Mackie, Silkscreen, 2006
One would think Elizabeth Mackie is vying for the title “hardest working woman in art.” After showing in 28 group and solo exhibitions in the past three years, she is taking a year and a half to work on new art, part of her Landscape Series. The silkscreen series focuses on visual elements of hair that mimic the lines of a drawing. “Our identity is sometimes linked with our hair color or our features,” said Mackie. “I use hair as a metaphor for larger issues of identity.” Concept, rather than process driven, her themes—fairytales, legends, and Ben Franklin and his women—can be seen across various media. Words also play into Mackie’s work. One piece incorporated all the ways the dictionary defines women and all the negative terms used to describe them. Women are an overarching theme in her art, making Women’s Studio Workshop a perfect match. She began her relationship with WSW when she received the Geraldine R. Dodge Residency Fellowship and Mackie is currently in the midst of her fourth residency at WSW.
