Elizabeth Chiles is an American artist based in Austin, Texas making visual art that searches beyond the physical, to places of peace, contemplation, and connection. Exploring the intersections between an embodied human perception, the ever-shifting physical world, and the mysterious world beyond our sensory awareness, Chiles’ work pushes the boundaries of photography. It was upon seeing the infinite in a blade of grass as a child that Chiles began her personal and artistic pursuits.
Born in Austin and raised in Houston, Texas, Elizabeth graduated with a B.A. in Art History from Columbia University and an M.F.A. in Photography from San Francisco Art Institute. Her work has been widely exhibited, including solo exhibitions at Fotofest, Galveston Arts Center, Southwest School of Art, testsite, and grayDUCK Gallery, as well as group exhibitions at Foley Gallery, conduit gallery, and The Contemporary Austin. Her work is in the public collections of The City of Houston, The City of Austin, Dell Children’s Hospital, The LINE Hotel, Google, and University Women’s Hospital, among others. Elizabeth has taught over 30 courses in theory and photography at The University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University, and Southwestern University. She served on the Board of Trustees and was co-chair of programming at the Austin Center for Photography from 2008–2015, and has served as a mentor to several young artists and a juror on a number of grants and awards panels. She is the recipient of City of Austin arts grants from 2014–2021.
EDUCATION SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE, MFA Photography, San Francisco, CA, 2005 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, BA Art History, New York, NY, 1997 TEACHING ST. EDWARDS UNIVERSITY, Austin, TX, Lecturer, Photography, 2021-2023 HOUSTON CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY, Houston, TX, 2020 - 2022 UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, Austin, TX, Lecturer, Art Theory, 2011 – 2015 SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, Georgetown, TX, Assistant Professor of Photography, 2012 – 2015 TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY, San Marcos, TX, Lecturer, Art, Art History and Honors, 2009-2013 LESLEY UNIVERSITY, Art Institute of Boston, Low Residency MFA, Graduate Mentor, 2010 SOLO EXHIBITIONS BREAD AND ROSES, Koslov Larsen Gallery, Houston, TX, fall 2024 TIME BEING, Fotofest, Houston, TX, spring 2024 THE WILD NEARBY, Galveston Art Center, spring 2024 TIME BEING, Grayduck Gallery, Austin, 2021 NESTS AND OTHER PLACES TO REST, The Line, Austin, 2020 ON WATER, Central Library, Austin, 2019 WEAVE, Architectural Digest Design Show, New York, NY, 2019 WEAVE, Grayduck Gallery, Austin, 2018 ON MY MIND, AGAIN, Southwest School of the Arts, San Antonio, TX, 2016 OVER TIME, Pump Projects, Austin, TX, 2016 ON MY MIND, AGAIN, Canopy, Austin, TX 2014 BOOK OF PRAISE, testsite, Austin, TX 2010 VISIBILITY, Spartan, Austin, TX 2009 TWO AND THREE PERSON EXHIBITIONS LAND/E/SCAPE, Amy Casey, Elizabeth Chiles, Veronique La Parriere M, Foley Gallery, NYC, spring 2023 LUMENS & CURRENTS, Elizabeth Chiles and John Swanger, Grayduck Gallery, Austin, 2017 IN THE SPACE OF SUMMER (w/Karen Cleveland and Olivia Valentine), Whitespec, Atlanta, GA, 2016 BEAUTY IS EVERYWHERE OR WE’LL BREAK YOUR BONES, Installations and Experiences by Elizabeth Jean Chiles and Beverly Jane Bajema, Pleasure Palace, Austin, 2013 SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Conduit Gallery 40th anniversary exhibition, Dallas, TX, 2024 Seven Deadly Sins, Art and Environmentalism, Museum of the Americas, Washington DC 2024 transmissions, with ecoartspace, Canopy, Austin, TX 2024 Solar Lunar, ARTSPACE, Wimberly, TX, 2024 Nature Nurture/Nurture Nature, Texas State University galleries, 2024 Inland/Outward, Foto Relevance, Houston, Spring 2023 Keeper of the Hearth, Houston Center for Photography, Fall 2020 INFOCUS v. 2, Phoenix Art Musuem, AZ, 2017 POST HUDSON, Frontispiece Hudson, Coxsackie, NY, 2016 UT AUSTIN FACULTY SHOW, Visual Arts Center, Austin, TX 2015, 2011 INFOCUS, Phoenix Art Musuem, AZ, 2014 MAIL ART, Franklin Street Works, Stamford, CT, 2014 ON THE ROAD, Aperture Foundation Benefit, New York, NY, 2014 MOVING/STILL curated by Kerry Inman, Houston Center for Photography & Fotofest, 2013 HER , Rolla Foundation, Bruzella, Switzerland, 2012 TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY FACULTY EXHIBITION, San Marcos, TX, 2010, 2012, 2013 THEN AND NOW Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI, 2012 NEW ART PHOTOGRAPHY, Chelsea Art Museum, curated by Vanessa Kramer, New York, NY, 2011 TEXAS BIENNIAL, Austin, TX, 2011 15 TO WATCH: NEW ART IN AUSTIN, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX, 2011 DECK THE WALLS, John Cleary Gallery, Houston, TX, 2010 and 2009 HOME, Root Division, San Francisco, CA, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY, curated by Charles Boone, 2004 Fragments of Contemporary Urban Life, Diego Rivera Gallery; San Francisco City Hall; Michaelis Gallery, the University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2002 PROJECTS WITH LAKES WERE RIVERS COLLECTIVE STRANGE PILGRIMS, The Contemporary Austin, 2015 CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHIC PRACTICE AND THE ARCHIVE, Harry Ransom Center, Austin, TX, 2013 TEXAS BIENNIAL 2013, Blue Star Art Museum, San Antonio Warhol Foundation Idea Fund Grant, 2012 DARK MATTER, Vanderbilt University Gallery, Nashville, TN, 2012 PANTA REI, Box 13, Houston, TX (in conjunction with Foto Fest), 2010
GRANTS AND AWARDS City of Austin, Core Funding Grant, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Nominated for Best Artist in Austin, 2018, Austin Critics Table Nominated for Best Solo Exhibition in Austin, 2016, Austin Critics Table Finalist, Art Pace Residency, spring 2017, selected by Michelle Grabner The Contemporary Austin, Collectors’ Circle print commission, 2015 Finalist, Art Pace Residency, fall 2014 selected by Mika Yoshitake, Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Fellowship, Hambidge, Creative Residency Program, summer 2014 Best photographers to Lakes Were Rivers, Austin Chronicle, 2011 Nominated for Best Museum Exhibition for Contemporary Photographic Practice and the Archive, Harry Ransom Center, Critics Table Awards, 2014 ABBREVIATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nature Nurture, San Marcos Daily Record, March 24, 2024 Brush with Nature, Austin Home, June 2024 Elizabeth Chiles, Time Being, featured portfolio, PhotoNews, Germany, June 2024 Elizabeth Chiles, Lumens, featured portfolio, Katalog Magazine, Spring 2022 Top 10 Post Pandemic Art Exhibitions in a World…, Sightlines Magazine, December 2021 Eternal Spring, Elizabeth Chiles at grayDUCK Gallery, Sightlines Magazine, September 2021 Field Guided, Wildflower Magazine, feature article by Lauren Moya Ford, March 1, 2020 Elizabeth Chiles’ On Water exhibition at Central Library, CBS Austin program We Are Austin, interview with Trevor Scott, July 15, 2019 Austin Art Talk Podcast, Elizabeth Chiles Elizabeth Chiles: Weave, Melanie Jean, Austin Chronicle, May 4, 2018 Weaving light: In her newest photographic work, Elizabeth Chiles embraces serenity, Erin Keever, Arts + Culture, May 2018 Weaving light: In her newest photographic work, Elizabeth Chiles embraces serenity, Erin Keever, Sightlines Magazine, March 2018 Elizabeth Chiles and John Swanger: Lumens & Currents at Grayduck Gallery, Sam Anderson-Ramos, Austin Chronicle, January 6, 2017 Photography project uses cloud formations to examine time, Austin American Statesman, April 14, 2016 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, 2016 Strange Pilgrims exhibition to come to The Contemporary Austin, The Daily Texan, September 2015 Strange Pilgrims at The Contemporary Austin, Kate Green, Art Forum, November 2015 5 Can’t Miss Stops at EAST 2014, Austin Way Magazine, by Wes Eichenwald The nature of the [b]EAST, Seth Orion Schwaiger, Arts & Culture, October 26, 2014 “MOVING/STILL: Recent Photographs by Texas Artists” Tries to Make Peace With Nature, Houston Press, September 24, 2013 by Altamese Osborne Top 5 in Houston this week (Moving/Still at Fotofest & HCP), Glasstire, September 2013 Archives Inform Modern Photographers work at the Ransom Center, Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, The Austin American Statesman, July 14, 2013. KUT, NPR in Austin interview with John Aielli, June 27, 2013 West Austin Studio Tour artist plays with light, nature and the cycles of life by Luke Quinton, The Austin American Statesman, April 25, 2013 In the Studio: Elizabeth Chiles by Andy Campbell, The Austin Chronicle, April 14, 2013 Dark Matter, Critics pick, Nashville Review, November, 2012 Pictures of E.A.S.T, Katie Geha, Glasstire, November, 2012 I Shutter to Think, Rising Stars in Austin, Austin Chronicle, Robert Faires, May 20, 2011 PBS television interview, Austin Museum of Art, March 2010 Catalogues Keeper of the Hearth, picturing Roland Barthes unseen photograph, Schlit Publishing, spring 2020 Strange Pilgrims, Heather Pesanti, The Contemporary Austin, UT Press, 2015 Moving/Still, Fotofest and Houston Center for Photography, 2013 Texas Biennial 2013, Virginia Rutledge, Texas Biennial, Austin, 2013 Young Artist Program, The Contemporary Austin, 2013 HER, Rolla Foundation, Italy, 2012. Texas Biennial 2011, Virginia Rutledge, Texas Biennial, Austin, 2011 The The Collector's Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2, Amani Olu and Jon Feinstein, Humble Arts Foundation, New York, 2010 Home, Root Division, San Francisco The History of Mission 17 Gallery, San Francisco New Art in Austin, Kate Bonansinga, Toby Kamps, and Andrea Mellard, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, 2011 Artist books Weave, 2018, poems, available at grayDUCK Gallery, Austin Electric Blue Flowers, 2016, writings and photographs, Farewell Books and Frontispiece Hudson The flower and the bloom, monograph of work made in Maine, summer 2011; available at Fotofest, Houston Lakes Were Rivers: Number One, collaborative artist book Book of Praise produced in conjunction with testsite exhibition; available at Domy Books, Houston Theatre, monograph of Theatre project, with essay by Toby Kamps, senior curator, Menil Collection, Houston, TX Special edition portfolio, Gum Drops, produced at Cloverleaf Studios, Austin, TX Special edition portfolio, Everyday Portals and Pleasures, produced at Cloverleaf Studios, Austin Special edition portfolio, Theatre, produced at Cloverleaf Studios, Austin Published Writings, Readings & Performances Root Branching, poetry/performance, May 5, 2018 Disparate Elements, poetry reading, Fields Magazine, Spring 2017 Cover art: American Short Fiction, fall 2013 Fields Magazine, featured artist, summer 2014 Endless Ocean, Endless Sky, Fuse Box Festival, ...might be good, issue 99 Interview with Jessica McDonald, I Love Texas Photo, September 2013 Public Talks and Lectures 2023 Phi Beta Kappa Society annual meeting 2022 Precision Camera, Keynote speaker 2018 Site Santa Fe, Museum trustees studio visit 2018 Blanton Museum of Art, Museum trustees studio visit 2018 Blanton Museum of Art, Gallery Talk with Veronica Roberts 2016 Grayduck Gallery, Austin, exhibition talk 2016 Houston Center for Photography, Studio visit and tour 2016 Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, Artist talk 2016 Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, Artist talk 2015 The University of Texas at Austin, faculty exhibition, program lecture 2014 Canopy, conversation with Heather Pesanti, Senior Curator, The Contemporary Austin 2014 Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences, Rabun Gap, Georgia, Artist talk 2014 The University of Texas at Austin, Quest Program, Artist talk 2013 The Harry Ransom Center, Contemporary Photographic Practice and the Archive, gallery talk 2013 Houston Center for Photography, exhibition walk through with curator 2013 Fotofest, exhibition walk through with curator Kerry Inman 2013 KUT/KUTX, Austin’s NPR station, Radio interview with John Aielli about HRC exhibition 2012 Texas Educators Association, presentation: Photographing the Everyday and Storytelling through Photography 2011 The Austin Museum of Art, Public Talk on Exhibition 2011 PBS interview at Austin Museum of Art, Interview for local PBS station 2011 The University of Texas at Austin, visiting artist lecture in The History of Photography 2011 The University of Texas at Austin, faculty exhibition, program lecture 2010 Texas State University, visiting artist lecture in Studio Practicum 2009 Texas State University, visiting artist lecture in Studio Practicum 2009 testsite, exhibition talk Public Collections include The City of Austin AIPP The City of Houston Civic Art Collection The Contemporary Austin The Archer Hotel, New York and Austin Dell Children’s Hospital, Austin Dimensional Worldwide Google The Rolla Foundation, Switzerland The Line Hotel, ATX, DC, LA Sidley Austin LLP, New York
Private Collections include: Janet & Wilson Allen, Austin Julie Castellano, New York Mike Chesser, Austin Deborah Green, Austin & New York Stacy & Joel Hock, Austin Cathy Kaplan, New York Laurence Miller, Austin Danielle Nieciag & Brian Sharples, Austin Lora Reynolds, Austin Susanna Singer, New York Chris Tomlinson and Shalini Ramanathan, Austin Tom and Olivia Walton, Arkansas