Three decades ago, artist Elizabeth Keithline pioneered a unique sculpture technique, weaving wire around large objects and burning them out. She noticed that this method sparked a ghoulish interest among observers, (people really loved those large fires), highlighting a rarely explored aspect of human nature— a fascination with destruction. While society often suppresses such impulses, Keithline believes that acknowledging and understanding our destructive tendencies is essential. Through Breaking Broken, she endeavors to confront the multifaceted nature of destruction.

Notably, Keithline employs found paint and wood, embracing imperfection and repurposing discarded materials. The pieces she will exhibit in Breaking Broken have all undergone some aspect of destruction under her hand.

In concert with her solo exhibition, Keithline will jury You’re Breaking Up, a national call for entries that focus on the topic of destruction. The exhibition will be shown at The Sketchbook Gallery, 9 Jane Street, Saugerties, NY from Sep 7 – Sep 28, 2024, with an opening reception Sept. 7 from 4-7 pm.

Elizabeth Keithline’s work focuses on human self-extension, concerning systems of all kinds – architecture, technology, cars, the modern built environment, as well as the natural world – in an effort to comment on and grapple with modern life. In 1996, Keithline invented a technique called Lost Box, involving weaving wire around large objects and then burning or pulling it off, creating a wire memory. Since 2019, she has cast shadows through the wire and traced and painted them. Keithline has shown widely in the United States including solo shows at the Peabody Essex Museum, the Danforth Museum, the Newport Art Museum, the Waiting Room in New Orleans, Blue Star Contemporary in San Antonio, ArtPrize Grand Rapids, Real Art Ways in Hartford, Umass Amherst, Umass Dartmouth and Wheaton College.

Doing business as Wheel Arts Administration, she has curated exhibitions for Mark Miller Gallery, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Boxo Projects NY, Mobius Boston and Wheaton College, among others. She has written for Sculpture Magazine, Public Art Review, Art New England and the Americans For the Arts blog.