
2024 Small Works Show artist Elizabeth Yarosz-Ash
Elizabeth Yarosz-Ash has lived in Wichita Falls, TX for over 40 years. She moved to Texas in 1981 to primarily teach painting and drawing at Midwestern State University. Her other curriculum responsibilities throughout 36 years were 2D Design, 3D Design, Professional Practices, Senior Exhibition, Art History, and Art Appreciation. During her tenure, Yarosz-Ash was appointed to the Wichita Falls Arts Commission as an At-Large member. As well, she has served numerous appointments to the Wichita Falls Museum of Art Advisory Board. Her initial period of service was during the transitional period when the university acquired the museum from the community.
Elizabeth A. Yarosz-Ash is a nationally recognized and award-winning artist, teacher and juror. She has shown in over 417 exhibitions and has received over 85 exhibition awards, of which 19 are Best of Show awards. Yarosz-Ash is Professor Emeritus at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. In 1991, she was selected for the University’s Hardin Professor Award and was a full professor since 1992. From 2002 – 2004, Yarosz-Ash served as President of the Watercolor U.S.A. Honor Society. In 2011, Yarosz-Ash was selected as a finalist for the Hunting Art Prize, a prestigious annual $50,000 award competition open to Texas artists. She served as a Fulbright Specialist to Grenada, West Indies in 2013. She is the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Texas Artist Award, was a finalist for the Santo Foundation 2015 Individual Artist Awards, and a 2016 finalist for a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, Washington, DC. In 2017 she served as a Visiting Instructor at the Professional High School of Visual Art in Holguin, Cuba. Her work is in over 90 corporate, institutional and private collections.
The bird images are painted from the specimen collection of Midwestern State University Texas, where I taught painting and drawing for 36 years. The white butterfly wing is a specimen that I purchased recently from a supply store in NYC.
The compositions are created in my studio by photographing the still life. Stylization of the image occurs by managing the picture through a Photoshop posterization filter, resulting in an abundance of hard-edged segments of color. The appearance is very similar to a paint-by-numbers kit, popularized in America in the 1950’s, but much more refined in the finesse of segments to gain a photorealistic effect.
Artist’s Statement
Elizabeth Yarosz-Ash