Elizabeth Ivey with “Mr. Peacock,” a fabric collage that measures 9’ x 4’
Photo by Amos Moses
Early on, Elizabeth Ivey liked to doodle and draw, and was encouraged to do so. Unlike most kids, though, she made her debut early, and in a big way.
“City buses had advertisements inside them, and they could slide them in and out to change them,” remembers Ivey, who was born and raised in Asheville. Collaborating with the city’s public-transportation system, her second-grade art teacher arranged to get Ivey’s art, and that of four other students in the class, displayed on one of the buses.
“Mine was a picture of trees in an orchard using pastels — and when I went on the bus with my teacher and saw it, that’s when I knew that yes, I was an artist and a creator. I thought, ‘Wow! I can do this!’
“Ever since then, I’ve been chasing that feeling.”
Ivey started entering art contests, winning a blue ribbon for a drawing of a pirate. “I have no idea why I drew a pirate, of all things. But I want other kids to see their art showcased and feel what I felt.”
Today Ivey is an acclaimed mixed-media artist, a fabric collagist who uses a variety of colors, textures, and weaving patterns — as well as paints, inks, and photography — to create her own uniquely layered 3D effects. Her creative relationship with fabric started with a vivid interior scene.
“I was working in different mediums, trying to find where I was most comfortable, and I had a vision of an enslaved woman with a baby on her back as the sky went light to dark. With that in mind, I went to the fabric store, and by the time I picked up the first piece of fabric, I could feel the texture of the image in my head.” She began searching by touch and feel for colors of cloth that matched that mental picture, letting different fabrics guide her composition — a process she’s sustained for the past 20 years.
“By the time I pick out the fabric, I can already see and feel the image I’m going to make start to come together. Burlap and felt are my staples, and I know that how it feels in my hands is a huge part of how it’s going to look. I’ll sit down and start cutting and go off into a whole other world of art, where you can create multiple universes all at the same time.”
Ivey also holds a Masters degree in Social Work, empowering BIPOC women and girls toward optimum socio-emotional learning and wellbeing via creative expression. In recognition of her Sister Soul Sessions group-therapy program, Ivey was awarded a 2023 “Craft and Community Vitality” grant; the program, launched by Asheville’s Center for Craft in partnership with the UNC Asheville-UNC Gillings Master of Public Health program, explores the impact of craft on community health in Western North Carolina.
As an artist and mental-health and creative-expression professional, “my dual roles complement each other,” says Ivey. Making meaningful art helps her “enrich my work with young people as I guide their own talents, skills, and abilities.”
Elizabeth Ivey, Asheville. For more information, see versatilitiesart.com and on Instagram @versatilities_abstract_art and @sister_soul_sessions. Ivey’s work is also exhibited at Noir Collective, 39 South Market St., Asheville, noircollectiveavl.com.