Elizabeth Torak
Master Painter in the Classical & Abstract Traditions
Decades of representational painting inform my abstraction. In them, image breaks apart into the pure energy of light, color and motion.
A professional artist for 30 years, Elizabeth Torak has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country including the San Diego Art Institute and the Butler Museum of American Art; she has received over 40 awards and is listed in Who’s Who in America and the Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers of the U.S.: Colonial to 2002.
In 2011, her monumental oil, The Feast of Venus I, was the centerpiece of a solo exhibit, The Feast of Venus I: The Artist’s Process at the Wilson Museum in Manchester, Vermont. The exhibit included eight oil studies and thirty-seven preparatory drawings. The Feast of Venus I was also the subject of a feature article in October 2012 issue of The Artist’s Magazine.
Elizabeth Torak: Making Emotional Connections with Your Subject, an article describing Torak’s teaching technique and philosophy, appeared in the November 2009 issue of American Artist Workshop.
In 1994 Ms. Torak was the subject of a feature article in American Artist Magazine.Her work and techniques are profiled in the book “Creative Oil Painting, Techniques from 15 Master Painters” by M. Stephen Doherty.
In 2017 Elizabeth Torak was elected to Signature Membership at the American Artists Professional League. There have been only 10 previous signature members in the organizations 89 year history. Ms. Torak is the first woman to receive this honor.
Elizabeth Torak lives in Pawlet, Vermont with her husband and fellow painter Thomas Torak. She is represented by Helmholz Fine Art in New York City and Dorset, VT.
Solo and Two Person Exhibitions
2018 Elizabeth Torak Solo Exhibition, Helmholz Fine Art, Manchester, Vermont
2016 A Force of Nature Solo Exhibition, Helmholz Fine Art, Manchester, Vermont
2012 Elizabeth Torak Solo Exhibition, Tilting at Windmills Gallery, Manchester, Vermont 1998, 2000,’01,’03, ’04, ’06,’08 Tilting at Windmills Gallery, Manchester, VT
1995-’99 G.C. Lucas Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
1995 Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT
1993 Capricorn Gallery, Bethesda, MD
1992 The New Jersey Museum of Agriculture, New Brunswick, NJ
Selected Awards
2017 Jackie Lowry Memorial Award for “Jen’s Dahlias” – Academic Artists Association 67th Annual National Exhibition of Traditional Realism
2017 Arthur Harless Memorial Award – Hudson Valley Art Association 84th Annual Juried Exhibition
2010 Macowin Tuttle Memorial Award – Salmagundi Club 127th Annual Members’ Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2009 Second Prize – Portrait Theme Show, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2009 Georgie Read Barton Memorial Award – Hudson Valley Art Association 78th Annual
Exhibition, Ridgewood Art Institute, Ridgewood, NJ
2008 Anna Hyatt Huntington Horse’s Head for Best Painting – – Catherine Lorillard Wolfe
Art Club Members Exhibition, Broome Street Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Audubon Artists Silver Medal of Honor – Audubon Artists 65th Annual Exhibition,
Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2006 The John Young-Hunter Memorial Award – Allied Artists of America 93rd Annual
Exhibition, National Arts Club, New York, NY
2005 First Award for Oil – Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Members Exhibition, Broome
Street Gallery, New York, NY
2004 Frank C. Wright Memorial Award – American Artists Professional League 76th Grand
National Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2002 The American Artists Professional League Award for Traditional Realism – Allied
Artists of America 89th Annual Exhibition, National Arts Club, New York, NY
2001 Dumond Memorial Award for Best Light and Atmospheric Effect – Hudson Valley Art Association 70th Annual Exhibition – Newington-Cropsey Foundation Gallery,
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
Arcadia Gallery, New York, NY
Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, TX Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Neenah, WI
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
Michael Ingbar Gallery, New York, NY
Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA
San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
Bibliography
Robert K. Carsten, Feast of Venus, Revisited and Revised, The Artist’s Magazine, October 2012
M. Stephen Doherty, Making Emotional Connections With Your Subject”, American Artist Workshop, Winter 2009
Susanne Washburn, “Give Me the Colors”, Stratton Magazine, Winter 2009
Clara Rose Thornton, “Summer Inspiration”, Southern Vermont Arts & Living, Summer 2009
“Blogs Give Painters a New Way to Sell Art”, Boston Globe, July, 2, 2007
Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers of the U.S.: Colonial to, 2002
M. Stephen Doherty, “Painting Luminous Veils ofColor”, Creative Oil Painting, Rockport
Publishers, Inc.
Suzanne Martinucci, “Upholding the Classical Tradition”, American Artist Magazine, August 1994
Who’s Who in the World 2006
Education
The Art Students League of New York B.S., The University of Chicago
The Brearley School, New York, NY