Name: Liz Barick Fall

City of Residence: Ann Arbor, MI and Cross Village, MI

Featured Artwork: Bleeding Her Dry

Exhibition: Identity Maps: Juried Photography Exhibition, CTAC - Petoskey's Bonfield Gallery

On View: now through November 2, 2024

Tell us about the creative process for the featured piece in our exhibition: I photograph places where I live and work over periods of time to observe and document changes that occur. During the recent record high water levels in the Great Lakes, I was alarmed by the abnormally fast progression of erosion that was taking place, not only from the high water, but also because of climate change accelerated storm systems pummeling the bluff. I photographed the area several times as it unfolded, and each piece in this series depicts the resulting damage along the Sturgeon Bay near my family cottage, capturing the sand still falling over the snow during the frozen winter months. I printed the photos on fabric and embroidered the sand drips in red, because it looked to me like the bluff was bleeding. I used recycled and vintage fabric, trims and thread that had belonged to my grandmother to finish the edges and connect the photos to the frames which I made out of driftwood I collected from the beach as I walked along taking the photos.

Who or what inspires your creativity? So many things to be honest--nature, landscape, architecture, how we as humans navigate the world and each other, materials of all kinds, the process and engineering of making things. Really, I get inspired by the details of moments I allow myself to truly feel and consider.

Where can visitors learn more about your work? You can visit my website at www.lizbarickfall.com, follow my Instagram @barickuda, and visit Barickuda Gallery, trustArt Studios in Ann Arbor. 

Artist Bio: Liz Barick Fall works in photography, mixed media assemblage and installation, utilizing her extensive collection of materials and photographs. A lifelong resident of Michigan, she holds a BFA from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Metalsmithing from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She taught Metalwork and Jewelry Design at The University of Michigan and Adrian College, and also 2D and 3D Design at Washtenaw Community College. She launched and ran her own line of jewelry and home and garden accessories businesses. In addition to practicing and exhibiting her work, she is the founder and director of trustArt studios and Barickuda Gallery, an artists' workspace and gallery in Ann Arbor, which she founded in 2012 to develop opportunities for creative collaboration in her community. Inspired by the intent observation of her environment and the objects within it, and guided by the lived experience of contemporary social challenges, she explores themes of nature, loss, nostalgia, memory, growth/decay, climate change and patriarchal oppression. Her work has been shown in numerous group, invitational and solo shows regionally and nationally. She has been featured in Create! Magazine, I Like Your Work Magazine, Women United Art Magazine, Arts to Hearts Creative Process book, and her work can be found in private collections in the US and Europe.

LIGHTNING ROUND!

• I'm inspired by: Thoughtful, loving, hardworking, family and friends.
• When I work, I listen to: Music, podcasts, silence...just depends on the day.
• For example: This American Life, The Moth, Audiobooks, Spotify Khruangbin Radio and other chill cool music :-)
• I studied: Metalsmithing, Photography and Sculpture
• "One" art-related thing I can't live without: Everything in my studio!
• Three words that best describe me: Sincere, observant, industrious
• Three words that best describe my art: Detailed, layered, provocative

Thank you to Liz Barick Fall for participating in our Artist Spotlight Q&A series!