Liz Downing's portfolio

Work samples

Primal Eden

This is a toy theater piece, created in my home in 2023 for the Toy Theater Festival.

The puppets are made of paper and cardboard and gouache. I the recorded the vocals with Hanna Olivegren. Greg Hatem created the sound scape.

Lilith enters Eden, ringing like a bell, calling Soul, Matter and the Mother Bear.
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Curving Tooth at 14Karat Cabaret, Maryland Art Place in a show curated by Laure Drogoul, 2022 photo by Dave Iden
Motel neon sign
Your Soul Boat, My Soul Boat

Tears will become the river that will take you somewhere. In this particular place you will see the Dagon Twins dancing to the Dirt song, and the soul boat being tossed on existential waves. This sound piece, I created in May 2020 with collaborator, Allison Clendaniel. The visual, I recorded alone on my iphone using hand held puppets moving to a sound track by Lurch and Holler, (Liz Downing, Michael Willis). Allison Clendaniel and I added vocals and Allison created further sound layers with James Young on Oboe . Full credits are at the end of the piece. Moon tells us as directed by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, "Tears will take you somewhere. Tears will become a river and lift your boat off the dry rocks on the psyche's shore." Dagon Fish God Man Twins dance to the music of the Seed, with these words: Plant a tree Grow sapling tall Fell the tree Build a Home Fire Eats Home Ground Eats Wood Wood is Dirt Dirt wants Seed

About Liz

I was born in a small town in Alabama and grew up working in the family business, The Heart of Dixie Motel. The Motel was set on a hill with miles of woods behind and HWY 280 in the front. The town lay in the valley below. The Tallapooosa River, just beyond the valley was dammed in 1920 to create electicity, which flooded many small towns and created a huge lake. This lake covers my ancestors homes and graves. Many of my images rise from here.

I graduated from the small but… more

View Liz's Resume

Motel, the Family Business. Boy Who Played Dead

The images shown here are panels to be joined together and wound into a vertical scroll and placed into a cranking device. The scroll will be turned as I sing the song and images will be digitally overlaid onto the images passing by the camera. I will also use a painted black skillet acting as a puppet to pass in front of the scrolling image of the black and white motel floor tiles.

The setting for the story is a pink roadside motel on HWY 280 in Dadeville, Alabama. I grew up and worked here in my family's business on a hill, over looking the town.

For family guests at the Motel, we offered a large room with a kitchenette. One such family had a teenage boy, who was often left alone at the motel when his parents went out. His main activity was trying different ways to get my older sister's attention. The most entertaining way, to me, was, he pretended to be dead as we cleaned his room, draping himself over the arm of the chair, or slumping against the Coke machine.

Motel series for Crankie 2024
Boy Who Played Dead

Music by Curving Tooth, Liz Downing and Greg Hatem

Liz Downing words and vocals Greg Hatem arrangement and production

Slumped against the Coke Box, draped across the sidewalk, hanging over the gate, slumped, draped

You played dead while we freshened your towels. You played dead while we made your bed.

I like your transistor radio. You like my sister Rosio.

Room 17 with a kitchenette, got pots and pans in the kitchenette and painted on the wall was Sylvester and Tweety Bird. (My mother was an artist and painted cartoon images on the walls)
I like your transistor radio. You like my sister Rosio
Bathroom tiles
Long Term Motel Guest
Rosio
Sylvester, painted on the Motel wall.
Tweety Bird, painted on the wall
Skillet in Room with a kitchenette

Crank Me Up, by Curving Tooth

Below, you will find a small sample of the soon to be released 2024 Curving Tooth album.

Greg “Lovey” Hatem and Emma Elizabeth Downing are two of Baltimore’s most generous and prolific musicians. In their new collaboration, Curving Tooth, their talents collide and whole new worlds form.
Setting Downing’s trademark banjo and high lonesome holler amidst Hatem’s synthesized landscapes, the duo’s new record Crank Me Up is by turns whimsical and haunting, sublime and carnivalesque. Here, everything on earth is imbued with life essence and omens abound: crows are oracles, bears ride the train, and goblins and heroes alike rise from the fertile decay.

Downing has been a staple of Baltimore’s art music underground since attaining college radio credibiltiy with her band Lambs Eat Ivy in the 1980s. An endlessly restless performer, she continues to record and perform in a variety of collaborations, including Old Songs (with Chris Mason of The Tinklers and Mark Jickling of Half Japanese), In the Womb of the Everywhere Room (with Allison Clendaniel of Mind on Fire), and Mole Suit Choir (with Rupert Wondowloski, shopkeeper at Baltimore’s legendary Normal’s Books and Records.)

Hatem’s resume is equally active, recording and performing his own solo music and with Baltimore bands — drumming with Natural Velvet, playing multiple instruments with Moth Broth, and joining Downing from time to time in Mole Suit Choir.

With Crank Me Up, Curving Tooth serves up a banquet of experimental pop that is both inviting and adventurous, combining flavors for every palate into a concoction that is quite toothsome indeed.
written by Rahne Alexander

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Here we are, Curving Tooth, performing at Maryland Art Place, a show curated by Laure Drogoul commemorating the 14 Karat Cabaret. 2022 photo by Dave Iden The words are from my decades old song books . The arrangements are fresh from Greg's expanding mind.
So Leaf May Grow, by Curving Tooth

Written in 1985, arranged in 2023. Fertile Decay Fetile Decay seed takes root and root must stay, root must stay, but stem may go, break the ground so leaf may grow. Birth Life Death. Rebirth Life and Death.
Space Arms by Curving Tooth

Telling the family where to meet after the apocalypse..at the Space Station When the wave crashes over, the fields of clover, with open arms...I will meet you at the Space Station.
Run in Place, by Curving Tooth

The Slop Sink Monster is from my Childhood " Daytime Monsters" Catalog. To be in the Daytime category, the monster could only present itself during the daylight. The Goblin lives under the slop sink, behind the mops and the brooms and on happy afternoons, the goblin sleeps and I creep by. But on those anxious mornings, the goblin will rise and sway, wide smile and I, petrified, run in place.
Omens from Curving Tooth

The Omens when he left were good. Birds flying to the right. Which pleased me as we said goodbye and cheered him on his way, with every hope we'd meet again, and give each other splendid gifts. Words adapted from Homer's Odyssey
Thank You Skillet

Everything has got a spirit. Everything has got it's time. A rock today, tomorrow may play as a child in the warm sunshine.
Curving Tooth Album Cover

Psycho dramas in shades of red

When I am working with gouache on a brush, using my elbow and shoulder in the motion , I conjure images from an emotional, psychological place. When drawing with a pencil, I use my wrist and bring about image making from an intellectual place.

In my sleeping dreams, the landscape is often shaded dark red . Using deeply colored paper premakes the place, which is most of the work. All I have to do is inhabit the red space with marks and dots which come together as archetypes or places where the archetypes may crawl from.
After so long of using every color, I am happy to have reason to use predominately one color. Working with one color gives all the power to that shade. All dots and every mark has purpose.

Bells in Primal Eden

Lilith Enters Eden, Ringing Like A Bell.

Calling Soul, Matter and the Mother Bear

This video was made for the Toy Theater Festival in 2023.
Mother Wheel, the Crankie, November 2021

This piece is a scrolling panorama of images, assisted by a couple of puppets. Mother Wheel is a meditation on The Ancient Mother. I remember when your water covered me and I like a fish swam away. The sound is music by Curving Tooth, Greg Hatem and Liz Downing.
Nursery of the Archetypes, Detail

detail from, Nursery of the Archetypes, whole piece is 24"W x 32"L. January 2020. Milk from the roots feeds the sentient beings.
Rooms In a House, Detail

This detail shows the basement and first floor . As always the basement holds the monsters and the opportunity for fighting those monsters. On the first floor we are expected to sit properly at the table and entertain the flowers. The whole piece is 24"W x 32"L, created in February 2020.
Keeper of the Gentleness

She does what she must to maintain the most fragile membrane, keeping us human, keeping us sentient, so we don't turn to stone.
Second Floor hosts the Head

Being followed by childhood monsters into adult hood, gives one the reason to find out who they are. This piece is 24" W x 32" H, created in January 2020. Gouache and colored pencil on red paper/
Nursery of the Archetypes

Pine tree with reptilian skin and milk giving roots, feeds the underworld nursery. Gouache on red paper, February 2020 24" W x 32" L
Knowing Trees, Detail

Conversation about knowing, time and gravity.
Soul Cabin with Agency

Footed Cabin holds onto Psyche Cliffs. It is a rugged landscape upon which to build a dwelling, especially when you hope to house the sun and draw the moon down for a visit.
Feeding

In the Attic, feeding one another. Detail Entire piece is 22"W x 32"L. Gouache on Crimson Paper

My Soul Boat, Your Soul Boat

Tears will lift your boat, Tears will become the river that will take you somewhere. In this particular place you will see the Dagon Twins dancing to the Dirt song, and the soul boat being tossed on existential waves.

This sound piece, I created in May 2020 with collaborator, Allison Clendaniel. The visual, I recorded alone on my iphone using hand held puppets moving to a sound track by Lurch and Holler, (Liz Downing, Michael Willis). Allison Clendaniel and I added vocals and Allison created further sound layers with James Young on Oboe .
Full credits are at the end of the piece.

Moon tells us as directed by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, "Tears will take you somewhere. Tears will become a river and lift your boat off the dry rocks on the psyche's shore."
Dogon Fish God Man Twins dance to the music of the Seed, with these words:
Plant a tree
Grow sappling tall
Fell the tree
Build a Home
Fire Eats Home
Ground Eats Wood
Wood is Dirt
Dirt wants Seed

Your Soul Boat, My Soul Boat

Tears will become the river that will take you somewhere. In this particular place you will see the Dagon Twins dancing to the Dirt song, and the soul boat being tossed on existential waves. This sound piece, I created in May 2020 with collaborator, Allison Clendaniel. The visual, I recorded alone on my iphone using hand held puppets moving to a sound track by Lurch and Holler, (Liz Downing, Michael Willis). Allison Clendaniel and I added vocals and Allison created further sound layers with James Young on Oboe . Full credits are at the end of the piece. Moon tells us as directed by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, "Tears will take you somewhere. Tears will become a river and lift your boat off the dry rocks on the psyche's shore." Dagon Fish God Man Twins dance to the music of the Seed, with these words: Plant a tree Grow sapling tall Fell the tree Build a Home Fire Eats Home Ground Eats Wood Wood is Dirt Dirt wants Seed
The Everlasting Dance between the Once and Future Trees

This piece, gouache on black board, was created in 2021. The Sound Art is by "In the Womb of the Everywhere Room", Liz Downing, Allison Clendaniel with synth and musical arrangements by Greg Hatem. In this piece, the Byzantine Devil dances with the wooden Bat, an ancient enemy, friend.
A Wish from the last pages of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. 2021

May you be born in a Lotus Blossom. Lotus flowers for your hair. Floating upon a lake of fire. Lillie pad will be your chair. Should you not, the Lotus Blossom, should you choose instead a womb, choose then well the door to enter, choose then well, a loving womb. May you be born Remembering. This is a 6" scroll of images, with song Gouache, ink and colored pencil on paper
Venus crankie

Crankie with no sound Scrolling images illustrating the story of Venus..Who in 500BCE, according to Velikovsky, would come dangerously close to the Earth's surface, causing violent disruptions. The women of the Babylonian communities would crawl onto their rooftops offering tall cakes. They would levitate the cakes with their voices, ringing vibrations against the mountains, which can still be felt today.
O little cabin in my soul, I am thief and I am guard.
Dirt
Moon and the Loblolly

Crankie with song
Moments before waking March 2020

Early in the pandemic, I used pieces of field recordings and my home environment, coffee maker, backyard chickens clucking through the window, to make a sound track for moving my paintings in and around the "stage".
New You

One day, I was walking and I saw New You. Sound created by "In the Womb of the Everywhere Room", Allison Clendaniel, Liz Downing with arrangements by Greg Hatem. Summer 2021
Mama Ubu Pappa Ubu MOV

Dadaist Toy Theater, Reading of Ubu Roi. In March 2020, I was invited to create a reading of any part of Ubu Roi, a play by Alfred Jarry, by Joanna Klass of Curie City, Warsaw Poland.

Story Boarding Monsters

Within the grids on black paper, with gouache, I catalog the dream actions of childhood monsters who have continued to live into my adulthood. These monsters are: The bear who got off the train and crushed a path through the pines to my family's living room, where we all sat. The goblin who lived under the slop sink, behind the mops and brooms. My dead grandfather's head, which appeared in the corner of the room, more opaque on anxious days. The girl with a Moon Head who followed me too closely. The crusty drunk, being frighteningly unaware.

Detail of Lifting the Veil in Small Squares

Monsters, Heroes and Flowers in gouache with colored pencil. This is a detail of a 22"x 33" drawing, created in 2019.
Corn and Moon and the Sisters Inside the Wood

Monsters arise during the phases of sleep and inform the dreamer of the deepest layers of existence.
Moonheads sing the stories

Life in all it's death talk makes us long for the Moon and our Mothers. Gouache and colored pencil. 25" x 34" 2019
Punch the Monster

The life in the subconscious links with the lives of all others. Here, I am displaying the dreams of my childhood and how they have informed my life. Gouache and colored pencil on black. 2019
Bear got off the Train

My dead Grandfather's head appeared in the corner of the room and never left.
Me and Momma went to town, to the Piggly Wiggly .

Dreams of the first Americans making their way into daylight but on the other side of the veil, I am riding into town with my Mother to the Piggly Wiggly, to the Big Bear, grocery stores with animal names. Gouache and colored pencil 2019
Moon Headed, planted by moonlight
Decomposing parents
Monster over my shoulder

In a dream, just before giving birth, I dreamt that my baby was tied to a crusty drunk who was unaware. I was running after them, but running in place. This piece was created in 2019 as part of an effort to decipher dreams by capturing the main action and turning them into psyche dramas or hieroglyphs.
In a boat, casting stars

Casting stars from a boat, My dead Grandfather's head, the Bear who got off the Train, the Goblin under the Slop Sink, all are in these squares as I try to make into symbols these actions from dreams.

The Sun and Moon Series

These pale colored papers of Cerulean, Robins Egg and Blush, allow the transparencies of the sky, such as the motion of the clouds and the faces of the Deities, to be seen. Using gouache and ink, I can draw with liquid lines, the silhouettes of pines, whom I love. How better to conjure water than with another liquid. Dots and lines of white gouache are capable to describe light on water. All these things make it possible for me to relay the beauty of the land and water and calm the angst for a little while. All the paper is 22"x 32" and year created was 2017.

Moon Adoring the Pine

The Moon, for many seasons has watched the Pine grow and longs to rest in the Pine's boughs.
Starry Headed Aunt, caring for the stand of Pines

In this Gouche and Ink drawing, the motion of the Galaxies, with lacy arms is directing the wind and crows.
Mother Arms

Mother Arms envelope the Lonely Pine, who is awaiting the Moon.
Western Pine with Cosmic Hands

In this Ink and Gouache drawing, the Lonesome Pine is the lookout of the Moss Covered Stone and the Cosmic Hands are the Lookout for the Pine.
Dark Moon Calling
Deity swallowing the sunrise
Twilight, Roosting Crow in Rosy Horizon

These two trees are tall pines, the favorites of local crows.
Seeded Face, Dark Mother, welcomes the crows and then shooooes them away.
Bird Terrarium

Crows live in the terrarium dress, worn by the Mother.
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Black is the Backdrop of the Universe

When working against black, every dot is evident and every mark is meaningful. To me the series is about reduction, even before beginning. Which marks are necessary and which marks are implied? I love to paint the cosmos in this way. Every dot is a galaxy. Every dash is an eon.

Scorpio Moon.

The Moon is a piece of the Earth, a favorite fact. This is an oil painting on a flat circle of wood against a black back drop. I attach this moon to a stick and hold it like a sign, while singing songs of longing to the Loblolly Pine. 25"x 30" x 1/2" 2018
Stump with Agency and Means

This piece is on Black board, images created with gouache and ink. 32"H x22"W . Created in January 2021. The stumps around the lake are underwater half the year. When the town was first flooded, the trees were tall and old already. The Alabama Power Company flooded valleys and towns by damming the Tallapoosa River. The water level is raised and lowered according to the power needed by nearby towns. Some times of year we get to visit the stumps, some times of year we don't.
Cosmic Laundry

A drawing for a theatrical set placed in the Bardo. 2019 22'x32" Gouache on black board
Dress blowing in the cosmic microwave background winds

Gouache on black paper, 2020.
Human Cabin Under the Cosmos

The human cabin with her domestic scene, exists under the murmuring of the Cosmos.This is a detail of larger piece which is 22"x32".Gouache on black paper 2019
Breasted Lantern

From the lantern series, an oil lamp on black. To create form with lines is a beautiful trick, one I will never tire of. This breasted lantern magnifies light.
Leading the Way with Tears

This Merbirdhuman is traveling the darkest path at the loneliest hour. This piece is from the Lantern Series and is Gouache, Ink and colored pencil, 22"x 32".
Twilight Visitors to the Rooted One

These are images in several shades of black and several shades of white. They depict a visit between elementals, archetypes at a fragile and shimmering time of day.
Human Cabin
Cosmic Bouquet in a Shroud

Flowers and funerals make a beautiful pair. Gouache on black with colored pencil. 2019 22"x 32"

Dream Images in scrolling panoramas

This group of work is from a series of ink and gouache drawings on large sheets of deeply colored paper. These are illustrations of dreams, or paring down of dreams into an image, then into a symbols. I have experienced these dreams during pivitol points of upheaval and change in my life. Each dream is illustrated in 6-8 drawings and taped together, end to end and wound onto a scroll. Then I roll the drawings through a viewing window, in a device called a Crankie. I accompany these scrolling drawings with songs, which I hope further illuminate the meanings.

The Moon and the Loblolly

The Moon has long wished to nest in the boughs of the Loblolly Pine, but in her crashing down, she broke all the loblolly's boughs. Knowing this to be true, they cried, they kissed. Gouache and Ink on Orange Paper, 2018.
Lighting the Way, We Need All the Animals

A bird merhuman traveling through Red carries a lantern. I used mostly dots and dashes of black ink and white gouache on red board. 30" x 30" 2019
In the Rosy Dawn Waiting

The psychic stump waits for now, while the archetypes swim up or perch for renewing visits.
Baptist Church Steeple came flowing, bell ringing

In this dream, womb waters had just broken and sent a flood down the river, sweeping away church steeples and household items.
Pink Goblin sat under the slop sink.

From the Dream series, The Goblin lived under the slop sink behind the mops and the brooms. The Goblin would rise and sway, wide smile, when I passed by. And I would be running and running in place.
Apron and hands
Air Newly Formed

The Air in this dream was like Air that had never before been lived in or breathed.
Bear on the train

This Bear was always riding the train in my recurring dream. He would get off the train deep in the woods and head toward my family home. I knew he was coming and I was always, in the dream, trying to reposition my family from the couch and recliner, so they wouldn't be crushed by the bear's footsteps. The Bear grew larger with each step and I grew smaller as he approached.
Babylonian Bulls, carved from stone

From the walls along the staircase in the Palace of Darius, two great bulls were fighting. Later in a dream, on a high red dirt plateau, I saw from my bird's eye view, the same two bulls, drowning in the quickly rising waters. Ink and Gouache, 22"x 32" 2018
Anxious Moon

From the Moon series, the skies articulate the state of the psyche. Gouache and ink on red board, to be cut out for a hand held puppet. 2019

Molesuit Choir

"Liz Downing & Rupert Wondolowski spoke of mixing it up one night at the Fair brothers' Shakemore Festival. Then Liz somehow transformed Rupert's poetry into melody. The passing of fellow friend and a startling poet, Chris Toll, onto the astral plane filled them with an urgency to create an aural life raft upon which to float gently on the ravaging waves of time."

https://molesuitchoir.bandcamp.com/
http://www.lizdowningart.com/music.html

Petula

Molesuit Choir is Rupert Wondolowski and Liz Downing. I recorded this Molesuit song using a PCM100 field recorder and an iphone. Greg Hatem engineered the sound and added synth. Recorded for the beloved music festival, Shakemore, in July 2020.
MSC Lonesome Cowboy

Recorded using a PCM100 field recorder on my porch in July 2020 with Rupert Wondolowski. Greg Hatem added synth and sparkles. Words by poet Chris Toll, fashioned into a song by Rupert.
Today,

Today, I thought, was going to be The Day, but it was Another. Problem is that the Beginning and The End Cannot be Found. I created this video in my music room against a backdrop of storytelling squares, using my phone on a tripod for the visual. The sound tracks, I recorded on a PCM100 field recorder. Greg Hatem added synth and effects. The words are taken from a Rupert Wondolowski poem. I created this for Molesuit Choir's participation in an online show at Rhizome in Washington, DC. Molesuit Choir is Rupert Wondolowski, Liz Downing and Greg Hatem.
MSC Scrap Heap Porch Rendition for Rhizome.

Recorded on my Lauraville porch during the big cicada swelling of Pandemic summer 2020. Molesuit Choir is Liz Downing and Rupert Wondolowski. Words by Rupert Wondolowski.
molesuit porch October

In the falling Leaves, humming along with the universe, we sing of Today, hopes, disappointments, hopes. October 2020
My Eyes Need Oiled

I created this tiny video using a puppet and a gouache drawing adding a remix of Molesuit Choir's "My Eyes Need Oiled" for the sound track. Greg "Lovey" Hatem made the remix and engineered the sound. 2019

Puppets in Sentient Landscapes

In my world of paper puppet making, these things are true;

To create a puppet is to make a character when that character didn't previously exist. It is a very big endeavor and I know immediately if this new character is real or a copy or just plain lifeless. A paper puppet must be able to be clearly read, like a symbol, but have a presence about them so to make you feel in their company, so to make you care about their story.

The backgrounds are home to sacred cabins and landscaped with sentient beings.

Puppet making is still new to me and I am figuring my way through.

MerbirdHuman brings Light to share with the Cherub

2 puppets against a pink background
Tender Knowing

Orange Puppet Hand resting on the Gnostic Leaf Being. This orange hand is moved by a stick which is moved by the spirit. The leaf is not a puppet and remains in the place she is given. Detail of a 44"W x 32"H gouache on green board created December 2020
Dagon Fish God, bringer of language

Dogon Fish God Bringer of Language visits the Leaf Being who requested his assistance in speaking with the Humans. Since the Fish God is part human, the Leaf Being thinks this may be possible, as she had discussed with her friend above, the moon.
Soul Cabin who holds the Light

This is a Puppet of a Cabin who holds in safe keeping the Light. She has many visitors, so she waits and they come. In using her for little psyche dramas, I allow characters to attempt to steal an ember, borrow a timber or put out her light.
soul boat puppet and bird headed cherub puppet

The boat has come to receive instructions from the bird cherub, where to flow, with no occupant and no paddles even if.
Woman from Crete, 500 BCE, Puppet visiting the Soul Cabins

This is a still moment in the life of a puppet who is visiting the soul cabins, in search of her personal one. This was created in Fall of 2020 and I am in the process of creating sound to accompany the film.
Byzantine Devil visiting Ancient Rooted, Unrooted.

The Devil comes for a visit and to perhaps persuade the ancient stump to spare a splinter of eternal wood. The stump has many visitors.
wooden owl puppets in a crankie box

This box is for holding a scrolling panorama of images on paper. But another use for it is for viewing puppets and for creating dramas against a faux wood background. The box is 5' tall, 3' wide.
Leaf Gnosis against Living Wood

Leaf Puppets! One day, two women were singing on the porch. A car passed by through fallen leaves. Giving the leaves a different perspective, but still no personal agency.
The set for the puppet sound piece, "Just before waking".

This is a toy theater set up of wooden cut outs which puppets move through and around. These images are taking place just before you wake. There was a bear who got off the train and that bear grew larger with each step. Crushing a path through the town, through the woods to the room where you sleep with your family.