Liz Surbeck Biddle and Michael Biddle are artists and lifelong partners. They have been  working individually and alongside each other for over fifty years. This exhibit celebrates a cross section of each of their work and where they meet to collaborate.

LIZ SURBECK BIDDLE

As an artist I am fascinated with the push and pull of the forces of nature. Storms, heat, air, planets, and oceans are all so powerful. Some of my work shows these forces by revealing both a density and airiness at the same time. The organizational structure of my work often has a moving or dynamic gesture as though time were passing and moving off the paper. 

I work very directly and intuitively and respond to both the figure and natural forms around me. Oceans, fish, plant life, creatures and aliens occupy my world of imagination. Concern with pollution of the oceans have recently occupied a few of my installation pieces.

I work in several mediums which bring out different aspects of my work. Working on paper and or collage is most spontaneous, but my ceramic work is slower so I like to go back and forth between them. I like this alternating approach which allows for a richer understanding of each. But line and color and form make up the basis of my imagery and prompt my imagination. Danger is sometimes lurking nearby in my work but humor and playfulness presents itself other times, for without it, life could be miserable as I see it.

MICHAEL BIDDLE

When I started out I wanted to be a cartoonist. This impulse has stayed with me and much of my art still relates to humor, albeit a dark or sometimes despairing humor that seems to suit the present day. 

I make, you look. Between us an object, a channel, through which energy flows, even across time. My hand traces a mark across a surface and I watch it move. I do not know who or what controls the movement but it is interesting to watch.

I have always been drawn to watercolor, and I now find myself using this lovely medium in a smaller, tighter, more controlled way. As I age the impulse to work fast and loose gives way to something slower, more considered.