From large, site-specific sculptural installations to drawings on paper, Elizabeth Simonson is drawn to working with common materials with a machine-like precision that embraces the fallibility of the human condition. Influenced by time-based, performative art forms, she explores sequencing and patterning found in nature, algorithms, and imperfect systems.
Simonson has exhibited at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks, and the Krannert Art Museum in Illinois, among other venues. Her work is collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center, the Plains Art Museum, and the Minnesota Museum of Art. She has been awarded grants from the McKnight Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, as well as the Joan Mitchell Art Center artist residency. Simonson was trained as a professional dancer and performed as a principal for Minnesota Dance Theatre and Feld Ballets in New York.
Born in Minneapolis, Elizabeth spent two decades in New York City before returning to Minneapolis to live and work.