Talk Description:
Sculpture, especially stone sculpture, has conveyed weight, solidity, and thus, immortality. Turk's work is built upon this tradition, but offers a closer look at what is considered solid. The intrinsic weight and physicality of a rock is known intuitively, long before it is explained with words, her work plays with paradox. I carve emptiness into this idea of weight and in the remaining negative space, the core of matter is questioned.

Biography:
Elizabeth Turk received her B.A. from Scripps College in International Relations, her MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. She was raised in the western part of the US, but has lived throughout the country. Today she is at home in three places: NYC, CA and GA. Her work is known for expanding concepts of stone, primarily marble, while reminding us that dialogues with material can adapt tradition without eradicating it. Inspired by science and fueled by the muse of resistance, her current work explores, will & intention, mass & void.

Turk is the 2010 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Fellowship, as well as being named a Smithsonian Research Fellow in 2011.