Sylvan Gallery Artist: Elizabeth Torak

Elizabeth Torak was raised in Princeton, New Jersey. While in high school, she moved to New York City on her own to take classes at the Art Students League while also completing her high school education at the Brearley School. She continued her studies at the University of Chicago earning a Bachelors Degree in mathematics before returning to the Art Students League of New York City. At the Art Students League she studied under Frank Mason and through him developed a knowledge for the materials that she uses today. She paints on Belgian linen that she prepares with rabbit-skin glue and white lead in the tradition of the Old Masters. She grinds her own paints daily using dry pigment and cold pressed linseed oil. She believes that these preparations are vital to achieve the atmospheric quality in her painting and to create paintings that will last for many years to come. Elizabeth paints a broad range of subjects including still lives, landscapes, and figures.

Elizabeth Torak has had solo and two-person shows and has been included in numerous group exhibitions. She has shown her paintings at the Butler Institute of American Art, The San Diego Art Institute and the Arlington Museum of Art in Arlington, Texas. Her many awards include an Honorable Mention at the Butler Institute of American Art Midyear Exhibition, the John Spiegel Memorial Award from the American Artists Professional League, the Marguerite Sinaly Memorial Award from the Salmagundi Club, the Len G. Everett Memorial Award from Audubon Artists, and the Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal Award for Oil from Catherine Lorillard Wolfe. She was the subject of a feature article in American Artist Magazine in August 1994 and September 2004. Her work and techniques are profiled in the book "Creative Oil Painting, Techniques from 15 Master Painters" by M. Stephen Doherty. She currently lives in Pawlet, Vermont with her husband and fellow artist Thomas Torak.

SYLVAN GALLERY