Elizabeth Bankowski

I was introduced to art in my childhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where my mom would take me to the Milwaukee Art Museum. I remember seeing striking installations, like TVs stacked high to the ceiling, small dolls with faces projected on them, and an infinity box that you could step inside to see endless streams of lights. When I was nine I moved to Portland, Oregon and had my first experience with painting. We were studying Van Gogh and I painted my first copy of the Sunflowers. After this initial experience I explored a variety of media like drawing, painting, sculpting, and photography. I eventually attended an art school as a teen where I studied various visual art forms. I found a true passion for illustration along the way and spent my formative years drawing comics and characters. Later on, I developed more of an interest in people and portraiture. I decided to pursue a Studio Arts major at Pacific Lutheran University with a concentration in oil painting so that I could focus on this skill. Since then, I had the privilege to study painting in the south of France where I spent my days painting in the French landscape.