Elizabeth Petrie DeVoll creates new art from old objects with a practice that enlivens history and questions the supposed border between the past and the present. She sees possibility in the discarded, weathered, and forgotten. A student and lover of history, Elizabeth uses her archivist sensibility to combine found antiquities into immersive, vibrant, miniature theaters.
She believes in the beauty of imperfection, especially when it comes from age and use. In her art, this beauty finds new partners and complements, as she reclaims and upcycles individual artifacts into contemporary and timely juxtapositions.
Elizabeth works from her home studio in Westport, Connecticut, and regularly shows art in Fairfield County and surrounding areas. She’s a member of the board (or, as they call it, a Toaster) at the Artists Collective of Westport.
She graduated with a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis’s School of Fine Arts, and spent over a decade as an art director on Madison Avenue, primarily at BBDO. She’s taught art all over Fairfield County and served as Education Director and Artist in Residence at the Westport Historical Society for ten years.