Elizabeth Schoyer was born in Pittsburgh, PA. She currently teaches drawing in the Art Department at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She received her BFA from Philadelphia College of Art and her MFA from the University of Indiana in Bloomington.

Schoyer currently resides in Keswick, VA.

ARTIST STATEMENT:
“In my paintings and gouaches I peregrinate across the Americas, North Africa, Amazonia, and Antarctica with Robert McFarlane, Maria Sibylla Merian, Alexander von Humboldt, Henry Bates, Ernest Shackleton, and many others as my guides. Through reading their journals and books, dating from the 18th through 21st centuries, I travel with these naturalists and explorers on their journeys to unknown worlds. My works are imaginary renderings of the experiences and specimens recounted in their writings. I am fascinated by these explorers’ resolve to continue questioning the mysteries of the world in spite of the perils and comedy of errors that characterize their journeys.”