Elizabeth Chiles

Catalog

A serene garden scene with a variety of tall, slender purple and orange flowers and green foliage against a light, textured background. The leaves and flowers cast soft shadows, creating a tranquil and natural atmosphere reminiscent of an Elizabeth Chiles painting.
A delicate, translucent flower silhouette with a long stem and buds is projected on a light, textured surface. Soft shadows of other plants and branches create a tranquil, ethereal ambiance in the background—a scene reminiscent of an Elizabeth Chiles piece.
A grid of 15 photos by Elizabeth Chiles, each featuring a single flower with various shades and lighting. The flowers have long green stems and translucent petals in different colors including yellow, pink, purple, and red. The background is soft and blurred, highlighting the flowers.
A delicate piece of paper with a torn, irregular edge lays against a light, textured backdrop. Through the torn section of the paper, thin, tall blades of grass and the hint of a pink flower are visible, creating a subtle, natural overlay effect.
A delicate pink poppy flower with green leaves and a bud is featured against a light neutral background. The flower has a slightly translucent texture, with hints of the stem and leaves showing through the petals.
A desaturated, withered plant with dry leaves and a single drooping flower head against a light, softly textured background. The plant appears fragile, highlighting its delicate and frail state.
A delicate, translucent flower petal with a pale pink hue stands against a plain, light background. Small magenta flowers and thin stems are subtly visible through the petal, giving the appearance of a layered nature scene within the petal itself.
A single tall pink flower with a long stem stands against a plain light-colored background. The stem has several green jagged leaves and small buds, with the flower partially shaded, making it appear slightly translucent.
A delicate, abstract depiction of a flower with a single stem and a petal characterized by painterly strokes of black and red. The background is minimalistic and light, enhancing the focus on the flower's artistic form.
A minimalist image features the silhouette of a single flower with a delicate stem against a beige background. The petals are softly lit, creating gentle shadows that highlight its delicate texture. The background has subtle gradients, adding depth to the composition.
A minimalist illustration of a pink flower with a thin stem and leaves in shades of gray. The background is a soft, muted gradient of light pastel colors, creating a delicate and airy atmosphere.
A delicate flower with a tall, slender stem and multiple leaves is set against a light, shadow-dappled background. The intricate details of the plant are highlighted by the soft, natural lighting, creating a serene and minimalist composition.
A pale yellow flower with ruffled edges and a long, slender stem stands against a soft cream background. The green, serrated leaves near the stem appear layered and partially transparent, giving the image a delicate, ethereal quality.
A single pink poppy flower with delicate, thin petals and dark center stands against a light, plain background. The flower is attached to a green stem with small, irregularly shaped leaves. The entire image has a soft, dreamy atmosphere.
A single dried flower with thin, brown, leafless stems and partially wilted petals is pictured against a pale, neutral background. The flower has a tall, delicate appearance with additional smaller buds along the stem and hints of pink and green near the center.

Elizabeth Chiles

Born: 1975, Austin, TX

Biography and Information

Biography
Elizabeth Chiles (b. 1975) delves into realms beyond the physical to explore themes of peace, contemplation, and interconnectedness in her evocative photographs. In Time Being, Chiles uses the transparency of a piece of linen fabric to evoke ephemerality and the play between the material and immaterial. The Poppies Seeing Poppies act as portraits, where singular silhouettes of poppies are removed to reveal abstract garden scenes, similar to looking through a window.

Elizabeth Chiles is a lens-based artist and educator living in Austin, TX. Her work has been widely exhibited, including Over Time, a solo exhibition at Pump Project nominated for best solo show in Austin, 15 to Watch at the Austin Museum of Art (now The Contemporary Austin), The Texas Biennial, and The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography, organized by Humble Arts at the Chelsea Art Museum, New York. Chiles holds a B.A. in Art History from Columbia University and an M.F.A. in Photography from San Francisco Art Institute.

Ecologist Suzanne Simard helps us reconceptualize how we live in relation not just to each other, but to the living Earth as a whole. She has shown that underground mycorrhizal networks in forests allow communication between trees and plants. The Earth’s soils are knit into contiguous living networks – rhizomatic in a Deleuzian sense – all connected, going on indefinitely in all directions. Plato’s societal fabric meets a material reality with plants’ underground connectivity, their networks interacting and affecting one another in response to human and other outside activity. These phenomenological exchanges with a shared living world inform the range of my work as I seek to make things that represent collaborative exchange with an environment. –Elizabeth Chiles

Education
2005
MFA Photography, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1997
BA Art History, Columbia University, New York, NY

Solo Exhibitions
2024
Time Being, Fotofest, Houston, TX
The Wild Nearby, Galveston Art Center, Galveston, TX

2021
Time Being, Grayduck Gallery, Austin, TX

2020
Nests and Other Places to Rest, The Line, Austin, TX

2019
On Water, Central Library, Austin, TX
Weave, Architectural Digest Design Show, New York, NY

2018
Weave, Grayduck Gallery, Austin, TX

2016
On My Mind, Again, Southwest School of the Arts, San Antonio, TX
Over Time, Pump Projects, Austin, TX

2014
On My Mind, Again, Canopy, Austin, TX

2010
Book of Praise, testsite, Austin, TX

2009
Visibility, Spartan, Austin, TX

Select Group Exhibitions
2023
Land/e/scape, Amy Casey, Elizabeth Chiles, Veronique La Parriere M, Foley Gallery, NYC
Inland/Outward, Foto Relevance, Houston, TX

2020
Keeper of the Hearth, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX

2017
InFocus v. 2, Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
Lumens & Currents, Elizabeth Chiles and John Swanger, Grayduck Gallery, Austin, TX

2016
Post Hudson, Frontispiece Hudson, Coxsackie, NY
In the Space of Summer (w/Karen Cleveland and Olivia Valentine), Whitespec, Atlanta, GA
Beauty Is Everywhere or We’ll Break Your Bones, Installations and Experiences by Elizabeth Jean Chiles and Beverly Jane Bajema, Pleasure Palace, Austin, TX

2015, 2011
UT Austin Faculty Show, Visual Arts Center, Austin, TX

2014
InFocus, Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
Mail Art, Franklin Street Works, Stamford, CT
On the Road, Aperture Foundation Benefit, New York, NY

2013
Moving/Still, curated by Kerry Inman, Houston Center for Photography & Fotofest
Her, Rolla Foundation, Bruzella, Switzerland

2012
Texas State University Faculty Exhibition, San Marcos, TX
Then and Now, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI

2011
New Art Photography, Chelsea Art Museum, curated by Vanessa Kramer, New York, NY
Texas Biennial, Austin, TX
15 to Watch: New Art in Austin, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX

2010
Deck the Walls, John Cleary Gallery, Houston, TX

2005
Home, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

2004
San Francisco Art Institute at Stanford University, curated by Charles Boone, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

2002
Fragments of Contemporary Urban Life, Diego Rivera Gallery; San Francisco City Hall; Michaelis Gallery, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Collections
The Archer Hotel, New York and Austin
The City of Austin AIPP
The City of Houston Civic Art Collection
The Contemporary Austin
Dell Children’s Hospital, Austin
Dimensional Worldwide
Google
The Line Hotel, ATX, DC, LA
The Rolla Foundation, Switzerland
Sidley Austin LLP, New York

Awards
2015–2021 City of Austin, Core Funding Grant
2018 Nominated for Best Artist in Austin, Austin Critics Table
2016 Nominated for Best Solo Exhibition in Austin, Austin Critics Table
2017 Finalist, Art Pace Residency, selected by Michelle Grabner
2015 The Contemporary Austin, Collectors’ Circle print commission
2014 Finalist, Art Pace Residency, selected by Mika Yoshitake, Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
2014 Fellowship, Hambidge, Creative Residency Program
2011 Best Photographers to Lakes Were Rivers, Austin Chronicle
2014 Nominated for Best Museum Exhibition for Contemporary Photographic Practice and the Archive, Harry Ransom Center, Critics Table Awards

Press
2020
Lauren Moya Ford, Field Guided, Wildflower Magazine, March 1

2019
Trevor Scott, Elizabeth Chiles’ On Water exhibition at Central Library, CBS Austin program We Are Austin, July 15

2018
Austin Art Talk Podcast, Elizabeth Chiles – Weave, May 12
Melanie Jean, Elizabeth Chiles: Weave, Austin Chronicle, May 4
Erin Keever, Weaving light: In her newest photographic work, Elizabeth Chiles embraces serenity, Arts + Culture, May
Erin Keever, Weaving light: In her newest photographic work, Elizabeth Chiles embraces serenity, Sightlines Magazine, March

2017
Sam Anderson-Ramos, Elizabeth Chiles and John Swanger: Lumens & Currents at Grayduck Gallery, Austin Chronicle, January 6

2016
Photography project uses cloud formations to examine time, Austin American Statesman, April 14
Elizabeth Chiles: Over Time at Pump Projects, The Austin Chronicle, April 1

2016
7 things in 7 days, top things to do in Austin this week, Austin American Statesman, March 25

2015
Strange Pilgrims exhibition to come to The Contemporary Austin, The Daily Texan, September
Kate Green, Strange Pilgrims at The Contemporary Austin, Art Forum, November

2014
Wes Eichenwald, 5 Can’t Miss Stops at EAST 2014, Austin Way Magazine
Seth Orion Schwaiger, The nature of the [b]EAST,  Arts & Culture, October 26

2013
Altamese Osborne, “MOVING/STILL: Recent Photographs by Texas Artists” Tries to Make Peace With Nature, Houston Press, September 24
Top 5 in Houston this week (Moving/Still at Fotofest & HCP), Glasstire, September
Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Archives Inform Modern Photographers work at the Ransom Center, The Austin American Statesman, July 14
John Aielli, KUT, NPR in Austin interview, June 27
Luke Quinton, West Austin Studio Tour artist plays with light, nature and the cycles of life, The Austin American Statesman, April 25
Andy Campbell, In the Studio: Elizabeth Chiles, The Austin Chronicle, April 19

2012
Dark Matter, Critics Pick, Nashville Review, November
Katie Geha, Pictures of E.A.S.T, Glasstire, November

2011
Robert Faires, I Shutter to Think, Rising Stars in Austin, Austin Chronicle, May 20

2010
PBS television interview, Austin Museum of Art, March

Press Release
2024 Richard Levy Gallery at Atlanta Art Fair