Bio

A unique renaissance woman of science, music and the arts, Elizabeth Anfield was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to a rocket scientist father and artist mother. She received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Indiana University, While earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Indiana University, she fell in love with the opera and studied voice and music.

After completing her Master’s in chemistry from UCLA, she married a fellow scientist, had two children. Once her children were old enough to go to school, she began her opera career. She often did scenic artistry as well as singing, producing and stage managing.

While studying voice in New York City, she visited the studio of Russian master Mikhail Turovsky who had at the time just finished an incredible cycle of paintings concerning the Holocaust. Ms. Anfield was so impressed with his portrayal of emotion that she began to help him promote this cycle of paintings.

In return for this help, Mr. Turovsky agreed to teach Ms. Anfield to draw and eventually encouraged her to give up music and pursue painting full time. She agreed and became an apprentice in the Turovsky studio, studying drawing for the first four years and painting for the last three.

Over these seven years the small Turovsky school made several art pilgrimages to Toledo, Venice, St. Tropez and Paris and Elizabeth learned how necessary it is for an artist to always improve their technique and expand their subject matter. This led to her penchant for landscapes and the development of Azeotropism.

Azeotropism was born out of her love of chemistry and understanding that different solvents would affect the character of the oil paints. Through experimentation, she has learned to control the various reactions exhibited by the paints and uses these reactions to create unique textures on the canvas.

Since leaving Turovsky’s studio, she has developed a process that allows her to brighten azeotropic paintings and has begun painting animals as well. Continuing to develop Azeotropism, Ms. Anfield endeavors to create paintings that are filled with tender colors and poetic subjects.

After ten years in New York, Ms. Anfield moved to the Santa Fe area in 1996 and has continued painting in New Mexico. She has participated in both group and one woman exhibitions in and around Santa Fe.