The Lexington artist and professor at the UK School of Design prepares for her first solo exhibit, opening this month at the Loudoun House
As she nears a milestone mid-life birthday, Liz Swanson continues to find joy in opening new doors to creative output.
An associate professor of architecture at the University of Kentucky since 2001, Swanson is also a talented artist whose sketches and mixed media work incorporate traditional and digital architectural drawing techniques, shifting vantage points, and the many ways line, color and materials influence the reading of space.
After discovering drawing at an early age while growing up in Illinois, Swanson went on to earn an undergraduate degree from University of Michigan and a Master of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. Following a decade and a half as an instructor at UK, Swanson’s passion for drawing came full circle in 2016, leading to a period she describes as the most productive time of her life.
“Since 2016, I feel like a whole new avenue of drawing has opened up for me,” Swanson said recently. “I’m turning 50 this summer, so it’s nice to still have new roads and opportunities opening up.”
She said her renewed creative inspiration arose in response to the grief, disillusionment, worry, fear and shock she felt from national social and political events in recent years. Rather than letting those emotions break her down, she said she was able to channel them into fuel for her art.
This extended stint of productivity has culminated with “Blueprints for Future Outlaws,” an exhibition taking place at the Lexington Art League’s Lillian Boyer Gallery inside the Loudon House from April 22-June 4. A reception will be held on April 29.
Much of the work in the exhibit, which includes mixed media collages and large-scale drawings, was inspired by particular events, such as the debate on the Affordable Care Act, the 2020 presidential debates and the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“These drawings are like a visual diary of those moments in time,” said Swanson. “Since I draw every day, I quickly realized that these pieces were becoming a repository for all of my concerns and dismay at the events unfolding in our world.”
As these and other events unfolded over the past six years, Swanson added to her drawings and collages, turning them into living, breathing works of art that are continually evolving. The collages focus on the theme of “inheritance” – from objects, trauma and stories passed down through family to our inherited identities as Kentuckians and Americans – and what we can learn from these inheritances to make the world a better place.
“I’ve made so many of these [works in this series] that they’re almost like little figures, little human beings, the same way that we’re all just assemblages of our own stories and experiences,” said Swanson. “There’s secret compartments and other things in the drawings that I liken to getting to know somebody over several encounters. The more you’re around someone, the more you learn about them and their nuances. The same can be said for these drawings – the more you look, the more you see.”
Swanson’s first solo exhibition, “Blueprints for Future Outlaws,” will feature around 40 drawings and mixed-media pieces, each framed in wooden frames hand-built by the artist and her husband, Mike McKay, who also teaches at the University of Kentucky School of Design. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
In addition to drawing and collage, Swanson also enjoys painting both small and large pieces. Among these are murals, several of which can be found around town, including one at Gate 1 of Kroger Field and one inside the cafe of the Euclid Avenue Kroger.
She also recently released “Wondrous Things,” a children’s book that folds into a 20-foot-long canvas comprising her own colored illustrations and black-and-white counterparts for kids to color in and make their own. All of the illustrations for the book were done on an iPad, which has quickly become a favorite tool of Swanson’s for visualizing her ideas despite having reservations about the technology at first.
“The discipline of architecture has changed so much in my 20 years at UK,” said Swanson. “When I first got here we were teaching all of our students to draft by hand. The program slowly became more and more digital-oriented until 2015 when we were teaching students exclusively on digital software. Not drawing by hand was a huge loss for me because drawing is what drew me to architecture, and suddenly, it was no longer part of the curriculum.”
As she grapples with changes in technology and how it affects her industry, Swanson continues to nurture her connection with creating work by hand. She looks forward to connecting with her audience by sharing nearly 40 pieces, all of which will be presented in wooden frames that she and her husband, who also teaches at UK’s School of Design, built by hand.
Photo furnished
In advance of the exhibition opening later this month, Smiley Pete writer Matt Wickstrom recently sat down with Swanson to discuss her artistic roots, her upcoming exhibit, her creative process and more.
How did you first get into drawing? I’ve been drawing for nearly my entire life. In first grade I remember making a Christmas plate for our parents. I drew a little reindeer on mine, and pretty soon all my friends in the class were asking me to draw one on their plates too. I remember thinking how weird that was because I didn’t understand why anyone would want to give up territory on their plates. From then on drawing was always a part of me. I had relatively strict parents growing up, so drawing was always kind of an escape for me.
I eventually got involved in architecture after enrolling in art school at the University of Michigan. Midway through my time there I stumbled into a history of architecture course that really spoke to me, in terms of the social and cultural implications of architecture. I quickly fell in love with architectural drawing, plans, sections and elevations. I loved the rigor of architectural drawing, so I ended up switching majors and pursuing it instead. I didn’t get into architecture because I wanted to design and build buildings; I fell in love with architectural drawing and the analytic nature of it.
Was there a particular moment in your life that made you realize you wanted to pursue art and drawing as a career? When I was a junior in high school, I started taking art classes at our local community college. They were very intensive four-hour classes, usually on Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to noon. Everyone else in the class was pursuing art as a career, so that’s what opened my mind to the possibility of it. When I was applying for college my parents were suggesting areas of study like graphic design and other concentrations they imagined could become a sustainable career.
So that’s what helped me visualize a career doing this, but once I got to art school I quickly realized my work lacked a purpose. Then I found architecture and just like that, my desire to draw was finally married with a very specific intention. I really enjoyed the way architectural drawing was an analysis of something that was social, cultural and political.
What do you hope to inspire or invoke in people with your art? I would like people to look at it and leave with a sense of the vast and intricate connectivity that exists between us all. The suffering of one person affects us all. And likewise, the empowerment of one person is empowering to us all. I’m also always hopeful that my work will inspire people toward a sense of wonder or a sense of joy in the small things in life. People don’t even need to know the backstories of my art to be able to revel in their little world. Whether people know these backstories or not, I hope they’re still able to lose themselves in the little worlds I’ve created.
Do you have a dream project you’d like to tackle someday? At the moment, my dream project is collecting all of my work into a book project. I would love to create a book that collects all of the thinking behind my drawings with the poetry, writing and essays that I’ve been writing for the last several years. I’d also love to design a postage stamp. I have no idea how I’d go about doing it, but I think it’d be really cool to have my work on something small like that that almost everyone uses.
What kind of role do you think art plays in Lexington, and how would you like to see that community grow in the future? I’ve always loved how Kentucky just has this super unique, wonderful heritage of all sorts of art forms from music, poetry, writers and visual artists. The arts community has been like a real cornerstone of why I’ve loved living here. I have also really loved that Lexington as a community has always been extremely receptive. If you have an idea and you want to make it happen, you can easily find the people who want to help you make it happen. It’s also a relatively small city, so it’s fairly easy to get in touch with the mayor or directors of the art museums to discuss ideas. Everybody here is so hungry for creative projects.
Moving forward I would love to see even more homes for art to pop up at. I miss small art gatherings like the Night Market and the Southland Street Fair that have been put on hold by COVID.
If You Go: “Blueprints for Future Outlaws,” a solo exhibition featuring the work of Liz Swanson, will be on display April 22-June 3 at The Loudoun House, 209 Castlewood Drive. An artist reception will take place on April 29.
Emily Giancarlo
Photo by Emily Giancarlo