* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Beth Edwards earned an MFA from Indiana University in 1987 and prior to that studied art at Tyler School of Art, Pennsylvania.
In her creative practice, Edwards approaches the subject of her painting from the viewpoint of a still life painter who has been long involved in the domestic realm and with common objects, such as toys and dolls.
Edwards is particularly fascinated by the way in which certain toys exemplify both the animate and inanimate spheres of existence. Moreover, she is interested in the particular cultural connotations of toys, such as in what ways a they imprint cultural perspectives upon children.
For example, in Log Cabin I, she feminizes a masculine Lincoln Logs building by substituting its pastel hues for the typically earth-toned palette of the miniature logs. She endevors to create versions of existing toys that seem plausible but also provoke the viewer to reconsider the original.
‘At times, I faithfully paint a doll or a toy house, accurately depicting the fabricated versions of reality they represent. On other occasions, by further altering or re-interpreting the conclusions of the previous rendition, I employ the same degree of license exercised by the toy’s creator,’ she says.
Her work has been exhibited nationwide for over two decades, and she has received numerous honors and awards, including most recently a Yaddo Colony Residence in 2007.
