Elizabeth Berrien

This woman was the artist who sparked my interest in wire sculpture 3 years ago. The intricacy of her work made me want to pick up a pair of pliers, a coil of wire, and start bending.

She lives on a farm on the northern coast of California, where she draws the inspiration for her work, wildlife. Seeing Berrien's work for the first time gave me the idea to start with fish as a subject.

She has won more awards than I can list, including one from 2 Grands from the London International Art Show. She also has several of her pieces on public display. The most well known of these pieces if a life-sized (17 foot wingspan!) Pegasus hanging above the escalators at the Louisville International Airport.



Her style of sculpture can best be described as a hybridization of engineering and lacework. They are all very technical and anatomically correct, too. She starts the sculptures at the face, with several long strands of thin wire. She then winds them around each other, bends them to shape, and weaves them together to create a solid form. The look like they have a lot of mass, but they're actually fairly light. I do have a feeling that they are fairly fragile.