Brief Statement

Liza Halvorsen has exhibited her ceramic sculpture nationally since earning a BFA from the University of Washington. After work abroad, she earned an MFA at Mills College and began teaching ceramics in the Bay Area. Since returning to Seattle, Liza continues working as an art instructor and studio artist.

Living on the coast and drawing from the environment, rocks and marine life inspires sculptural forms reduced to a basic geometry. These handbuilt ceramic forms are carved and painted with underglaze then the kiln fired forms are finished with pigment and archival wax.

 

 

Education
          Masters of Fine Arts Degree, Mills College, Oakland, California.
          Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

 

Selected Exhibitions
2008 Bainbridge Arts & Crafts, “Ceramic Sculpture”;
Bellevue Community College, “Clayspeak Symposium”;
University House Exhibition & Artist Panel, Seattle, WA.
2007 Poncho, “All about Art”, WA; Red Brick Art Center, Beverly, MA.
2006 Tacoma Sculpture Showcase, Tacoma Art Museum Plaza;
“Hot Art”, Northwind Arts Center, Port Townsend;
“En Plein Air: Art in the Natural Environment”, Edmonds CC;
Henry Art Gallery, “Monsen Cup Collection”, Seattle, WA.
2005 “Northwest Designer Craftsmen at 50”, Bellevue Arts Museum, WA.
2004 NCECA: Lewis & Clark College, Portland; WPA, Beaverton Library, OR.
NW Craft Center; Whatcom County Museum, Bellingham, WA.
2003 Yuma Art Center, Symposium Contributor Exhibition, Yuma, AZ.
WPA Annual, NW Craft Center; NWDC “Evidence of the Body”, Washington
State Convention Center; “The Figure”, Bellevue CC; WPA at NW Craft Center;
Gallery 6311; Seattle Pacific U; Bainbridge Arts & Crafts, Winslow, WA.
2001 American Crafts Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
1995 Foster/White Gallery; Fire Arts Gallery, U of W;
Art Center Gallery, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA.
1992 “Halvorsen/Halvorsen”, Fire Arts Gallery, U of W, Seattle, WA.
1990 Mincher/Wilcox Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

Installations & Collections
Kaiser Permanente Hospital, San Diego, Los Angeles, CA.
Desert Springs Marriot Hotel Installation, Desert Springs, CA.
Henry Art Gallery Monsen Collection, University of WA, Seattle, WA.
Rand Corp, Santa Monica, CA; Axis Collection, Hamilton, Bermuda.
Harrison Medical Center, Poulsbo, WA.
Microsoft Corporate Collection, Redmond, WA.
Viewcrest Park, City of Tukwilla; Sunrise Elementary School, WSAC.
Pacific Northwest Bell, Seattle, WA.
South Seattle Police Precinct, City of Seattle, Seattle, WA.

 

Teaching Experience
1997-present Instructor: North Seattle CC; Edmonds CC; Seattle Pacific University;
Shoreline CC; South Seattle CC, WA.
Prior Instructor: College of Marin, Kentfield; City College of San Francisco;
Holy Names College; T A, Mills College, Oakland, CA.
Guest Lecturer: “Ceramic Traditions of El Salvador;” U of W, Highline CC;
Instructor: Skagit Valley CC Extension; Cultural Enrichment Program, WSAC;
Kirkland Arts Center; Seattle Parks Department;
National Art School, San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America.

Related Work Experience
2005-09 Juror, League of Innovation National Art Competition;
Curator: David Harris Memorial, N Seattle CC Library; and
“En Plein Air: Art in the Natural Environment”, Edmonds CC Gallery;
Art Procurement Board Member, Poncho, Seattle, WA.
2004 Presenter, Yuma Arts Symposium, Yuma, AZ.
2000 Juror, Washington Potters Association, Annual Exhibition;
1997 Gallery Committee member, South Seattle CC, WA.
1992‑93 Staff, Bellevue Arts Museum; Juror: Bellevue Arts Fair;
Public Art Projects: Metro; Seattle Arts Commission, WA.

 

Publications
2006 Bellevue Arts Museum, Fund Development Publication.
2005 Pacific Northwest, Seattle Times Magazine.
2004 Ceramics Monthly, Volume 52, #6, Upfront.
1998 Clay Lover’s Guide to Making Molds, Pierce Clayton, Lark Books.
1997 Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Review: Bellevue Annual, Regina Hackett, Photo.
1992 Art in Seattle’s Public Places, A Master Guide, Rupp, UW Press, Seattle, WA.
1991 A Field Guide for Seattle’s Public Art, Seattle Arts Commission, WA.
1990 Artweek, Review: “Vision and Object Intertwine,” John Rapko, 6/7/90.
1989 San Francisco Chronicle: “Judging the Art and Jury”, Baker, 2/2/89.
1988 Artweek, Review: “The Sequence of Choices,” H. J. Wilson.
Connecting Conversations: Interview with 28 Bay Area Women Artists,
Viola Frey by Liza Halvorsen; Moira Roth, Editor, Eucalyptus Press.
1986 Art In America,” Report from Seattle: In the Studios”, Berkson

 

Honors
Best of Show, Washington Potters Association, Seattle, WA.
Fund for Excellence Grant, South Seattle Community College, WA.
Eleanor Crumb Art Award, Mills College, Oakland, Ca.
Mills College Alumnae Scholarship, Oakland, Ca.
Seattle 200+One Club, Sculpture Grant, Seattle, WA.
Lamda Rho Art Scholarship, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

 

 

Exhibitions and Reviews

Highlights from exhibition list include:

Henry Art Gallery, 2006, 1973
Tacoma Art Museum, Sculpture Showcase, 2006
Bellevue Arts Museum, 2005, 1995, 1979
Whatcom County Museum, 2004
Northwest Craft Center, 2004, 2002
Yuma Art Center, Yuma, AZ, 2004
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, 1988
Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY, 1987
San Jose Museum of Art, 1982
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1981
Seattle Art Museum, 1973

Highlights from exhibition reviews include:

“Liza Halvorsen’s wall sculpture Dark Horse is a very elegant, simple form that combines organic, totemic and mechanical associations. Its intense ultramarine surface creates an optical effect that makes it appear to hover on the wall…on looking closer, it yields a diversity of color modulation, yet is oddly flat and hard. Perhaps this is another play between the mechanical/industrial and the organic.”
-- A Sequence of Choices, Chain Reaction IV, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery,
H J Wilson, 1988

“The other unexpected strain of work here is what Joseph Masheck calls “smart art,” that is objects that turn the energy of craft to the ends of visual or intellectual conundrum. I’m thinking of the hermetic, wall-bound sculpture of Liza Halvorsen …”
-- Judging Art and the Jury, by Kenneth Baker, Chronicle Art Critic, 1988

“Pop Art’s Claes Oldenburg, the artist who transformed common objects by altering size and materials, is father figure to (one) of the better artists in the show; Liza Halvorsen makes chestnuts out of clay, some big as boulders.”
-- Pacific Northwest Annual, Bellevue Art Museum, Regina Hackett, PI Art Critic, 1995

“Rivalry between the Northwest and the Bay Area ceramic styles shows itself in the former’s tendency towards a lighter touch and subtle glazings. Liza Halvorsen puts a fine speckled glaze on her wall arches.”
--Art in America, Report from Seattle, In the Studios, by Bill Berkson, Sept., 1986
Halvorsen Reviews Continued

“To the extent that her representational images continue from one tile to the next, Liza Halvorsen’s clay tablets resemble Sperry’s composition. However, Sperry’s are made of stoneware and low-fire glazes; Halvorsen’s consist of raku-fired porcelain. In Calligraphic Fishing Pole (1981), she cast two bamboo fishing poles and placed them at intersecting angles. Then she decorated the surface with lines resembling calligraphy of fishing line. The smoky raku surface conveys the illusion of a beachcombing foray or the bottom of a tidal pool. The iconography of Fall Cycle includes salmon and other marine animals of the Pacific Northwest where Halvorsen lives and works.”
--American Ceramics, Tablets of Earth, Matthew Kangas, 2/3, 1983

“Plates and tiles, strong forms throughout the craft tradition, today draw heavily on aesthetics in contemporary painting, yet utilize them through skilled control of glaze and clay body….For Roberts Sperry, an abstract image is created by the adroit control of the medium, and on Liza Halvorsen’s wall tile pieces inconographical imagery is created through her ceramic technique.”
-- Pacific Currents / Ceramics 1982, San Jose Museum of Art, Suzanne Foley and Sherri Warner, Guest Curators