Sara: Where were you born and raised?

Liz: I grew up in Manhattan

Sara: What did you do before you went to grad school?

Liz: I was painting in my home studio and raising children.

Sara: Have you always lived in the Northeast/Boston area or have you lived elsewhere in the U.S. or other countries?

Liz: My husband and I moved to Boston from NYC in 1981; we have lived here so long that it is hard to imagine living anywhere else. I have lived overseas periodically. Travel has influenced my work since I was a young teen.

Sara: Your work often uses symbolic objects as metaphors for personal things you are dealing with that resonate on a universal level. How would you describe your practice to someone encountering it for the first time?

Liz: I would say that since becoming familiar with signs and symbols in Early Christian Art, working in that way has always been a useful language. It is more interesting to me than literal representation.

Sara: How do you land on the objects you end up using as subject matter? It is a matter of considering options and discarding nearly all of them. It is both a cerebral and intuitive process. What questions are currently driving your work?

Liz: I am trying to discover what I can do with printing on glass. It is a compelling technical challenge. At the same time, I am revisiting the imagery about immigration that I started after I traveled to Berlin in 2009. It is a subject that I find complex and deeply troubling. What are you paying attention to right now that you weren’t five years ago? My interest in 3D work is stronger than ever. I haven’t lost interest in printmaking but I need to bring it off the wall.

Sara: What feels at stake in your work today?

Liz: I can’t help worrying that working in stained glass is too “crafty” but I am trying to ignore that demon voice and keep working on what is compelling.

Sara: What are you working toward next?

Liz: It’s going to take a great deal of time to explore working on/with glass. I am finding my way through traditional forms and imagery to expressing my own voice. I am very interested in learning technical proficiency so that I can choose the degree of “finish” that I want. This pushes back against traditional stained glass. That can be seen as lacking the beauty of the expected form.

Sara: How does your work running Shepherd & Maudsleigh Studio inform your own studio practice?

Liz: The diversity (printmaking, alternative photography, papermaking, textiles, book arts) of what is going on around me encourages and rewards risk-taking.

Sara: This exhibition emerges from nearly two decades of sustained conversation and critique with the same group of artists. What does a long-term artistic relationship make possible that a short-term collaboration cannot?

Liz: It is similar to any long term relationship with a partner. There is trust and memory that is the product of time. That can’t be overstated.

Sara: The title of our show Here, Still suggests both presence and persistence. What does it mean, for you, to remain, with a place, a question, or a group of collaborators?

Liz: It is a choice that we make every month to put aside the time and remain committed to bearing witness, honesty and care. Like any relationship it takes work.

Sara: In your own practice, how has time, especially the extended time of experience, functioned as a material?

Liz: My own life experience is a part of what I am bringing to bear but what I read and witness of history is just as important.

Sara: How has sustained dialogue with other artists shaped the way you see your own work?

Liz: My colleagues bring up challenging viewpoints that are sometimes difficult but all the more so useful.

Sara: What does a productive critique look like to you now, and has that changed over time?

Liz: Productive critique is tough without injury. It encourages growth without shutting down the artist. I think it has to come from caring and respect or it can be damaging. It asks questions that promotes growth rather than passing judgement.

Sara: Has this continuity influenced your risk-taking or experimentation?

Liz: Absolutely.

Sara: Are there moments from the group, conversations, critiques, or even disagreements that have stayed with you or shifted your thinking in a lasting way?

Liz: Yes, that is why it is useful. I think we have all moved beyond looking for kudos and are hoping for disagreement, otherwise it isn’t useful.

Sara: What role does listening play in your practice, both in the studio and in the critique space?

Liz: There is a time for listening and this is mostly outside the studio. It is important to leave other voices at the door having digested critique as much as possible.

Sara: Has being part of this group changed how you approach looking at other artists’ work?

Liz: Yes, it requires stepping out of yourself and being patient.

Sara: Looking back, what has been most meaningful to you about our time together as a critique group?

Liz: There is meaning in all of it.

Sara: What do you think makes a creative community endure?

Liz: The community will endure as long as it is nourishing. That is a funny word to use but it represents how it feels to be supported. I don’t really see an end to that.