Patterns of winter trees provide inspiration for a new collage.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Viewing art requires your present moment. Daily life makes being mindful difficult, so focusing on details – colors, shapes, familiar text – can short-circuit the brain from unproductive thinking and bring a measure of calm to those who are suffering. I create art to encounter this feeling myself and to share it with the viewer.
From a distance, my monoprint collages can look like quilts or mosaics. Colorful elements are carefully cut and placed into matrices reminiscent of mathematical or scientific principles. When considered up-close, vintage maps, personal cyanotypes and colorful monotypes keep the viewer’s eye moving from element to element. Drawing from travel, topography and plant forms, my monoprint collages evoke feelings of memory, longing and connection.
I have spent the last thirty years living in Bloomington, Indiana. Forest trails are minutes from my house, and wilderness areas are but a short drive away. The land is enveloped by trees, so getting a sense of larger terrain is difficult. Instead, I experience nature on a smaller scale – examining the erosion of stream beds, the patterning on wild hydrangea leaves or the nexus of forest fungi threads.
The use of a structured matrix for my collages is intentional. The different collage elements – maps, free-formed monoprints, silkscreen topo marks or plant cyanotypes – echo each other. Over various scales, the mathematical and scientific patterning repeats and repeats – hinting at an unseen and possibly unknowable organizational structure to all of creation.
Biography
Elizabeth Busey likes to exploit the deliberate nature of printmaking and collage to meditate on parts of the world that fascinate her. Daily encounters with towering billows of clouds as well as expansive topographies and microscopic illuminations are translated into detailed, rhythmic monoprint collages, and large, colorful reduction linocuts.
Elizabeth Busey’s artwork is included in public, corporate, hospital and private collections in the United States, Europe and Australia. Her work has been featured in juried printmaking shows such as the Boston Printmaker’s North American Biennial, the Los Angeles Printmaking Society National Print Exhibition, and the Four Rivers Print Biennial. Her monoprint collage, Nevertheless She Was Sanguine, was awarded First Place in the Indiana Artists juried show at Newfields/Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Busey was born in Syracuse, New York in 1967 to parents who loved to hike and travel. She continued this interest as she lived on both coasts, and now resides among the rugged hills and valleys of Bloomington, Indiana.
RECENT PRESS:
Bloom Magazine. “Elizabeth Busey: The Meditative Power of Art”. June/July 2025
CV
Elizabeth Busey
Born 1967 in Syracuse, New York, United States
Lives and works in Bloomington, Indiana, United States
Education
2004 - 2006 Fine Arts Coursework, Indiana University
1991 - 1994 Master of Arts, Government and Master of Public Administration, University of Washington, Seattle
1985 - 1989 Bachelor of Arts, Government, Magna Cum Laude, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Solo/Dual Exhibitions
2023
• Monoprint & Collages by Amanda Barrow and Elizabeth Busey, Art Space Vincennes, IN
• Printmaking Celebrated with James Hubbard, UU Church Indy, Indianapolis, IN
2019
•Gretchen Charlton Art Gallery, Kankakee, L
• St. Meinrad Archabbey Library Gallery, St. Meinrad, IN
2017
John Waldron Arts Center, Bloomington, IN
2015
• Considering the Beloved, Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center, Bloomington IN
• Incomparable Wonder, Marx Gallery, Tho. Jefferson Unitarian, Louisville, KY
2014
• Captive on the Carousel of Time, Bloomington City Hall Atrium, IN
• Opening Artist, Columbus Regional Hospital Wellconnect, Columbus IN
2013
• Visiting Artist, By Hand Gallery, Bloomington, IN
2012
• Connections - Gifts of Art, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI
• All Things Great & Small, Hotel Indigo, Columbus IN
2011
• Wonderfully Made, John Waldron Art Center, Bloomington IN
• Forces of Nature - Wellspring of Life, Bloomington City Hall Atrium, IN
2010
• Unexpected Perspectives, The Venue Gallery, Bloomington, IN
Selected Invited Group Exhibitions
2024
• Stand Out Prints, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN
• Indiana Artist Juried Show, Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN Honorable Mention
2022
• 22nd National Print Exhibition, Los Angeles Printmaking Society, Los Angeles, CA
• Biennial Footprint International Exhibition, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT
2021
• Indiana Artist Juried Show, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis IN
2019
• A New Leaf, Momentum Gallery, Asheville NC
• Art Reflects Science, Prairie State University, Chicago Heights IL
• Dear Earth, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago IL
• Indiana Artist Juried Show, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis IN
2018
• Biennial Footprint International Exhibit, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk CT
• National Print Exhibition. ArtLink, Ft. Wayne IN
• Vistas, Governors State University, University Park, IL
• Four Rivers Biennial, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
• 2018 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition, Bradley Gallery, Arkansas St Univ, AR
• Water, Fire, Ice, Earth, Air, Tall Grass Gallery, Park Forest IL
2017
• Indiana Artist Juried Show, Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN
2016
• Serial and Sequential, Argonne 201 Gallery, Lemont, IL
• National Print Exhibition, ArtLink, Ft. Wayne IN
2015
• National Print Exhibition, Artlink, Ft. Wayne IN
• Delta National Small Prints, Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State, AR
• Mid-States Art Exhibition, Evansville Museum, Evansville IN
2013
• Boston Printmaker’s North American Biennial, Boston MA
2010
• Category: Printmaking, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago IL
Grants
Individual Artist Grant, State of Indiana, 2012 - 13