Elizabeth Forrest
Artist member since 2023
ProWaterloo, Ontario
A graduate in printmaking from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Elizabeth Forrest later travelled to Kyoto, Japan (the 90’s) to learn traditional Japanese woodblock print aka “mokuhanga”, a medium which she has continued to practice to the present. Also drawn to mixed media, she has combined mokuhanga with silk screen and recently, with pochoir/stencilling. Her artistic pursuits include behind the scenes work in "shodo" or Japanese calligraphy, and life drawing with attention to digital drawing on the Ipad.
Elizabeth has an extensive exhibition record abroad and at home including an number of solo and group shows with printmaking facility, Open Studio, Toronto. At Toronto's Gerrard Art Space she held four solo shows. Over her career she’s been awarded three Canada council grants for work, travel and curatorial projects. Her work can be found in corporate collections such as National Bank, RBC and BMO.
She moved to Waterloo from Toronto in 2018 where she's dug into the local art scene. In spring of 2025 she continued exploring the imagery of shorelines at the Kasahara artist's residency on Gabriola Island, BC. Digital drawing printed expertly on washi, combined with mokuhanga formed her experimental approach while exploring the intertidal zones along the Island beaches.
Elizabeth’s work is characterized by observation of social behaviours natural phenomena as seen in shoreline related works resulting from a residency in Newfoundland and a number of summers at Gibraltar Point, Toronto Island. Unapologetically, she works serially through a variety of image approaches. A constant in her work has been the use of Japanese papers or "washi", which she loves for its adaptability to a variety of media, in particular mokuhanga. These are framed by "floating" them in an airy box frame which renders them as objects and respects the life in paper itself.
For more details please see her website, www.elizabethforrest.ca
Work
Separations
Screen motif collection
Screen Motif Collection
Re-Visions
Wild Shores
The grasses wave and ripple in the wind: the rocks lie very still
- Elizabeth Forrest
- 35" x 8.5"
- $900 buy — $45 try
Margin
Figurative Collection
Figurative Collection
Figurative collection
Figure Drawing Collection
All Works
Inside the Studio
Q+A
Only thing you need when you leave the house
A list.
Beverage of choice
My morning espresso -essential.
Favourite book
The Old Ways, by Robert Macfarlane.
Why is art important to you?
Why is breathing important to me?
When did you start making art, and why?
I've been producing art since my childhood.
When I'm not making art, I'm (a) ...
Working in my garden allotment, exercising(cardio, weights,yoga), long walks, attending openings, having coffee with a friend
Upcoming Exhibitions
2026-05-01
Select Past Exhibitions
2019
2017
2016
2014
2008
2013
2022
2019
2025
Accolades
2022
2017
2022
2014
2008
1988
2010
1997
Press
2023
2015
2013
2024
2025
Residencies
2012
2010
1992
Education
1988
1975
1970
1969
Social
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