Hours:
Tues - Sat: 10am to 5 pm
Sun and Mon: by appointment
Liz Marshall was an elementary school teacher in Winnipeg before she moved to Penticton in 1979 where she raised her three children. Her creative outlet found its place then in drawing and calligraphy classes at night school. Encouragement and support from friends and family sent her on the long trek of formalizing her education, and in 1999 she received her BFA from Okanagan University College. Liz has taught art through the Okanagan Summer School of the Arts, the Naramata Centre, Continuing Ed at OUC Penticton and with Coolarts in Kelowna, an organization that offers arts workshops for adults with special needs.
Her work has been featured in group and solo exhibitions. She currently draws at home and paints at her studio tucked behind a courtyard in downtown Penticton.
"In 1998, at a time when female relationships were coming to be of great importance to me, the image of women with hands joined began to appear in my paintings and has since remained an integral part of my work. As I sat in restaurants with friends, I would tear dancing female forms from napkins or scraps of paper, and they would find their way collaged onto my paintings and etchings.
An artifact of a clay bell seen at the Louvre in 2003 made a deep impression on me. It was shaped like a female figure: the handle was the figure ’s elongated neck, and the ringer, its skirt. This was decorated with geometric women, also with hands joined, depicting what I interpreted was a sense of togetherness which friendships among women bring –something that apparently has persisted through the millennia.
Three years ago my first grandchild was born. Her arrival brought an even greater spirit of playfulness to my work. I began to explore images from children’s books, toys, and nursery rhymes. Animals began to appear in place of some of the dancing girls: turtles holding hands, a moose with a martini, birds in red high-heels. My palette lightened and began to include the hues of childhood. I developed a visual sense of humour and realized that there were few rules when painting for and like a child. I was pleasantly surprised when adults began to respond well to my work, often telling me they could sense the joy and freedom in my images. This playfulness and irreverence has earned me the unofficial title,“The Duchess of Whimsey”.
Her work has been featured in group and solo exhibitions. She currently draws at home and paints at her studio tucked behind a courtyard in downtown Penticton.
"In 1998, at a time when female relationships were coming to be of great importance to me, the image of women with hands joined began to appear in my paintings and has since remained an integral part of my work. As I sat in restaurants with friends, I would tear dancing female forms from napkins or scraps of paper, and they would find their way collaged onto my paintings and etchings.
An artifact of a clay bell seen at the Louvre in 2003 made a deep impression on me. It was shaped like a female figure: the handle was the figure ’s elongated neck, and the ringer, its skirt. This was decorated with geometric women, also with hands joined, depicting what I interpreted was a sense of togetherness which friendships among women bring –something that apparently has persisted through the millennia.
Three years ago my first grandchild was born. Her arrival brought an even greater spirit of playfulness to my work. I began to explore images from children’s books, toys, and nursery rhymes. Animals began to appear in place of some of the dancing girls: turtles holding hands, a moose with a martini, birds in red high-heels. My palette lightened and began to include the hues of childhood. I developed a visual sense of humour and realized that there were few rules when painting for and like a child. I was pleasantly surprised when adults began to respond well to my work, often telling me they could sense the joy and freedom in my images. This playfulness and irreverence has earned me the unofficial title,“The Duchess of Whimsey”.