Biography
Lizzie Essi is a multidisciplinary artist based in Cleveland (OH). In 2020, she graduated with a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a dual-degree in Painting and Sculpture + Expanded Media. Working primarily within the mediums of painting and weaving, she brings together items from a myriad of sources to create unified structures of recontextualized material. Through the process of revaluation and reuse, Essi aims to seize potentials of materials with little conventional use and little value as commodities. These are objects found and cast off in the everyday. In 2018 Essi received the Creativity Works Grant of the Fenn Education Fund of the Cleveland Foundation, leading a two-artist exhibition at The Good Goat Gallery, Lakewood, (OH) in 2019. Essi received the Sara Mattsson Anliot Award for Excellence in Weaving in 2019 and four times received the CIA Gund Family Scholarship, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, (OH).
CURRICULUM VITAE
Education
2020
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting and Sculpture + Expanded Media, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibitions
2023
One Year, One Outfit, Rust Belt Fiber Shed 2022-2023, Wave Pool Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2021
“Back in my day…”, Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
Wonders, Bonfire Artist Residency, Virtual from Valencia, Spain virtual viewing: https://bonfire-air.com/residencies/wonders/
Tactile: New Directions In Textile; Lizzie Essi, Nyki Fetterman, Angela Guest, Megan Young, Praxis Fiber Workshop, Cleveland, OH
Contemporary Textiles; Lizzie Essi, Meagan Smith, Sue Cavanaugh, River Gallery Arts, Rocky River, OH
Tactile: New Directions In Textile; Lizzie Essi, Nyki Fetterman, Megan Young, Three G Gallery, Summit Artspace, Akron, OH virtual viewing: https://www.summitartspace.org/tactile-new-directions-in-textile/
WOC Online Artist Residency Virtual Exhibition Vol. 8, World of Co, Sofia, Bulgaria
2020
Weaving the Rainbow, 2020 BFA Exhibition, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH (virtual) https://www.cia.edu/student-life/career-center/for-employers/2020-bfa
2019
Walkabout Tremont (featured artist), Climb Cleveland- Yoga Room, Tremont, Cleveland, Ohio
In Harmony: A Collaborative Exhibition by Lizzie Essi and Catherine Reitz, The Good Goat Gallery, Lakewood, OH
[Working Title], Praxis Fiber Workshop, Cleveland, OH
Generate-Generation: A Student Runway Show, Cleveland Institute of Art, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Atrium, Cleveland, OH
What’s Hidden in the Grass, Bostwick Design Partnership, Cleveland, OH
Student Independent Exhibition 73, Cleveland Institute of Art, Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2017
Softest: A Fiber Exhibition, Cleveland Institute of Art, Ann and Norman Roulet Student + Alumni Gallery Cleveland, OH
Residencies
2021
BONFIRE Artist Residency, WONDERS, Pontevedra, Spain (virtual)
2020
World of Co Online Artist Residency (December), Sofia, Bulgaria (virtual)
Related Experience
2022
HEAL Paradise Charity, Teaching Artist in Residency, Thotapalli Village, Agiripalli, Andhra Pradesh, India
2020
Little Cayman National Trust /Sister Island Rock Iguana Preservation, Volunteer Artist, Cayman Islands, BWI
2014, 2015
Gray’s Auctioneers, Assistant to CEO, Cleveland, OH
Awards and Honors
2019
Creativity Works Grant, Fenn Education fund of the Cleveland Foundation and G.R. Lincoln Family Foundation, Cleveland, OH
2019-2020
Sara Mattsson Anliot Scholarship for Excellence in Weaving, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
2016 -2020
CIA Gund Family Scholarship, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
Publications
2019
“In Harmony At Good Goat Gallery,” The Lakewood Observer: Lakewood Is Art Vol. 15 Issue 14, July 14