Liz Urse (she/her) of Burnt Cabin Press - 2023 West Virginia Artist Award - Fairmont, WV

My name is Liz Urse, and I am an artist, printmaker, potter, and art professor. I grew up in the beautiful hills of West Virginia. As a child, most attention was given to the natural world and the feelings associated with its autonomy. My father’s contracting business inspired my love of fabrication and my mother's love of teaching influenced my path in education. Ancestral influences were acquired with visits from my great uncle and the carved wood heirlooms from Poland that were passed down. With every visit, my uncle would whittle realistic birds from small blocks of wood.

My undergrad is in art/family consumer science education and my research during that time focused on pit-fired ceramic sculptures through evolving and altered forms. Experimentation with reduction printing began during a time when my life was consumed with obligation, and I needed to feed my soul. The works are multiple layer reduction prints using a single block of linoleum, oil-based inks, and printmaking papers. Layers are reduced and colors are layered light to dark to develop light, shadow, and texture.

Interest in social emotional learning through therapeutic art activities accelerated after witnessing the need for integration into educational practices. This fueled my interest in attaining my master’s in art education and Art Therapy certification at WVU. My thesis work focused on demonstration of Jung’s self-actualization through visual expression. This manifested into a juvenile fiction that I wrote, illustrated, and constructed. The narrative relates Appalachian animals to archetypes and follows a little girl through a local state park on a journey.

Guest at Lisa Guiliani’s studio.

Website(s): burntcabinpress.com

IG: @burntcabinpress