In the Studio with Artist Elizabeth Kendall

Today, we are going In the Studio with artist Elizabeth Kendall. Her artwork is on display for our current 25th Anniversary Legacy exhibition

on display June 24 - August 30, 2026 in our Hal Gomer Gallery.

Blending family memories with current experiences, Elizabeth Kendall creates simple, graceful sculptures. She works with lush white porcelain, raw wood, rigid steel, or vibrant glass. Her abstract wall pieces and vessels are both delicate and strong, simple and complex. Of her award-winning work she says: “The shapes that emerge are a conversation between my hands and the material. They are both bricks and windows--puzzles that are influenced by the space they inhabit, and by the people that experience the work. To learn more about Elizabeth and her work, please visit her website at www.elizabethkendallart.com

How do you decide a piece is finished? Do you ever come back to something you previously considered finished?

My work is never finished. It arrives at moment and perhaps rests for a bit but then it moves on. At least, I hope so.

Even a functional object is only truly finished when it is in use. A pitcher tells the story of use, how it used, who is using it and when. This can change over time. Perhaps as it is handed from one dinner guest to another; perhaps as it handed from mother to son and so on through time.

My sculptural pieces and intended to be deconstructed and reconstructed. I think of the parts as building blocks or puzzle pieces, and I invite the audience to explore and play. I will often set multiple parts out on a table and create new work by rearranging the old.

For me it is play, exploration, and storytelling about space, shadow, from and intent.

Do you remember the first time you were impacted by a piece of art? How did that experience shape your journey as an artist?

Years ago, I sat in an audience listening to Tré Arenz speak. As a contemporary artist, explored a variety of media and processes. She explored collaboration, performance and object making. I was inspired by her process, work and way of thinking and expressing.

During this talk she brought up the story of Sisyphus, condemned to eternally push a boulder up a hill and repeat the process after it rolled back down. Tré suggested the idea that he could own and change the experience if he only took a moment at the top of the mountain to enjoy the view.

I have retold this story many times, joking that it makes washing dishes much more fun when I stop and watch the birds outside my kitchen window.

Many years later I realized that this celebration of the moment has become an important influence on my work. Whether I am making a vessel with many detailed components; building a large wall piece comprised of hundreds of repeated shapes; or especially when I am obsessively sanding a porcelain curl, enjoying the moment, the line, the shadow, the interesting marks or textures makes the process fascinating. The finished work (at least finished for the moment) offers an opportunity for others to celebrate their own moments and observations as the touch, use and observe.

Please describe a meaningful experience you’ve had at Chesapeake Arts Center

Sharing creative opportunities and ideas is a passion that I share with CAC. A few years ago I was able to collaborate with the center and with the community with a hands-on clay experience. I offered people a small piece of clay and invited them to create. The results ranged from a simple squeeze to complex small sculptures. Each encounter offered an opportunity for conversation, exploration and fun. I love when The sharing of experiences goes both ways:

I then finished these small works with a dark glaze and created a small collaborative sculpture that was exhibited in a exhibition in one of the galleries. None of this could have happened with out the support of CAC and its mission to bring art into the community.

How does your work fit in with the history of the mediums, visual language, motifs, etc. you utilize?

Potters have a language of form that is introduced to makers even in the first community center wheel class. Pots have a body, waist, shoulder, foot, front and back. This reference to the body influences not only how I see clay objects, it also gave me a way of thinking about my work as it relates to human scale, body adornment and movement.

What drives you to continue making art?

My husband often observes: “As soon as you find a style or form that others will enjoy (buy), you change!” He’s not wrong. It isn’t, however, so much that other enjoy it but that I discovered in the making of one form a new idea or “moment” to explore. I think of it as a drop in the water that initiates an expanding ripple. When the rain starts many circles begin to expand into each other and a million moments, ideas, and paths to follow appear.

Over the years my idea of what art-making means has expanded as well. Creating something beautify and impactful, and sharing ways of seeing happens wherever and whenever I remember to framing the moment.