“A self-described visual archaeologist who pieces together seemingly unrelated objects and ideas to conceptualize a thought, Reed’s work can best be described as involving multiple layers to depict  nature’s beauty. Whether she’s incorporating elements like the human spine or a leaping frog into her work, Reed sends a powerful message of how multi-dimensional work can be intriguing yet organic.”   by Nila Do, Gold Coast Magazine

Elizabeth Elvart Reed was born in Honolulu, Hawai’i but grew up near Chicago, Illinois.  Although her formal fine art education started early at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her education came from many sources. Elizabeth sailed a 25’ sailboat from the Great Lakes to Florida, then through the Caribbean. During her travels she sketched in watercolors. She spent nine years sailing, painting and running her custom marine canvas shop named, “Watercolors.” Images of water appear frequently in her work.

Elizabeth earned a BFA in Illustration at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington. She studied watercolor with Jan Hart, whose sensitivity for color and loose style influenced Elizabeth’s illustration portfolio. After moving to Florida, Reed illustrated motivational travel graphics with a group of event planners and designers. Her illustrations and bookmaking ideas made unique invitations and travel documents for high end clients such as Raymond James Financial Group and Citrix. Quite often clients kept the pieces as mementos of their trip.

Illustration ripened back into fine art during Elizabeth’s three years in East Sussex, England. She studied from life at St. Andrew’s Studio in Lewes and refreshed her print making and bookmaking ideas at Brighton Independent Print makers, an open studio for intaglio and serigraphy. Traveling through Europe expanded Reed’s collection of impressions and images that surface in her compositions.

Elizabeth combines her drawing and painting skills based on the concept of visual archaeology. Her Vestiges series showcases her drawings on loose watercolor washes on paper. Her recent drawings are on silk chiffon stretched over oil paintings, creating a holographic effect. Her experiments with materials are conceived under the principle of, “form follows function.” Reed hopes to move the images off the wall and present them in three dimensional space in the future.

Elizabeth was chosen twice as a leading Florida emerging artist by the editors of Florida International Magazine in their Art and Design Issue’s Artist Showcase (2007,2009.) Her biography was featured in Gold Coast Magazine’s February 2010 issue.  Reed has shown in London, England and won the Armory Watch for Excellence Award from The Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, FL. As co-chair of the Australian committee of Greater Ft. Lauderdale Sister Cities International, Elizabeth coordinated local artists’ submissions to a cultural exchange web site between Gold Coast City, Australia and Greater Ft. Lauderdale. Elizabeth teaches drawing at ArtServe in Ft. Lauderdale as well as in her home, “Studio Blueye.”