Artist Statement

My work may be best described as a funky, organic meld of seed pod inspired forms and botanically inspired texture. Intrigued by the mystery of the pod as a reproductive vessel, I have chosen to explore the form, investigating its subtleties and potentials. Recently this exploration has lead to an involvement with other forms that I see as having an influence from various seed pod shapes. The delicate protective and reproductive parts of botanies offer inspiration for my surfaces. I see a natural blend of form and textures emerge when I apply these botanical influences to the surface of a pod inspired form. It’s a correlation that I find lies deeper than the surface, offering a sub text for the viewer to explore.

After living in Virginia and Hawaii, Liz Vercruysse returned to Omaha in 1996. Since then, Liz has continued her studio work, holding a studio at the Omaha Clay Works for two years and then co founding Big Table Studios in March of 2003. Her award winning clay work is exhibited both locally and nationally in group and solo shows including a 2008 Best of Show award in Charleston, SC. Her work has most notably been shown at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the Joslyn Art Museum, the Museum of Nebraska Art and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago. Her work resides in numerous public and private collections and has also been published in Ceramics Monthly, American Craft and Niche magazine (as a 2008 Niche award finalist). In 2010 she won a Distinguished Artist Award from the Nebraska Arts Council’s Individual Artists Fellowship program.