Quick Facts
Biography
Elizabeth Sher is an artist, filmmaker, and professor emeritus at California College of the Arts; she resides in the Bay Area, California.
Film
Sher produces and directs films and is known for creating documentary work that focuses on working artists. She is drawn to documentary film production because it allows her to learn more about a subject, with the filmmaking process providing a reason to ask many questions. It has been observed that her filmmaking career follows the arc of her life, with each film focusing on a matter relevant to her own stage in life.
PENNY
PENNY is a documentary short about criminal defense attorney and art collector, Penny Cooper. The film continues Sher's interest in art, women and aging. The film screened on PBS in 2017.
Awards
PENNY won Audience Favorite at the Mill Valley Film Festival in California and First Place at Intendence Film Festival in Denver, Colorado.
Sher won the 2014 Fleishhacker Small Film Grant, as well as the 2012 Roy Dean Grant for Film. Her films have been honored with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, the Western Regional Media Arts Fellowship Fund, The Zellerbach Family Fund, The Anheuser-Busch Foundation, The Pacific Pioneer Fund, and the Union of Independent Colleges of Art.
Filmography
“Penny” 2014, 30 min.
“Video Sketches - Iceland” 2012 - Learning Icelandic Pronunciation 3 min - Wind and Water 3 min. - Tractor Rap 2:30 min. - Baking Hverbroadt 3 min. - Slow Flow (produced with Brooke Holve) 3 min.
“Bella Bella” 2007, 26 min.
“Stalls” 2004, 3 min.
“Alma’s Jazzy Marriage” 2004, 26 min.
“Younger, Thinner, Smoother” 2000, 51 min.
“Chimera House” 1998, feature film
“Men are from Moon” 1998, 5 min.
"Homenje a Tenachtitlan - dia de las Meurtas installation by Carmen Lomas Garza" 1997 24 min.
"When Women Go Through Menopause, Where Do Men Go?" 1996 56 min.
"The Master-Mentor Series" 3 part documentary series,18 minutes each
"Fingers That Tickle & Delight" an interview with deaf humorist, Evelyn Zola 1994, 32 min.
"Approaching the 14h Moon" women and health professionals discuss menopause 1993 videotape documentary conceived, produced & edited by Elizabeth Sher 52 min.
"Celluloid Seduction" 1991
"Just Another Weekend" l989, feature film
"Dancing on the Edge of Success" an interview with dancer Margaret Jenkins l988
"Juggling" 16 mm film l981, 14 min.
"Too Young to Date" 16 mm film l980, 4 min.
"Wash It" 16 mm film l980, 6 min.
"Beat It" 16 mm film l980, 5 min.
"The Training" 16 mm film l979, 9 min.
Art
Sher began as a printmaker and painter but now creates multimedia work by manually and digitally manipulating photographic images.
Selected Exhibitions
Her work has been included in many group exhibitions including “Art is a Living Thing” (Aratoi Museum, Masterton, New Zealand), “Arising Project” curated by Yoko Ono (Reykjavik Museum of Art, Iceland), and “Wonder” (Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA). Notable solo exhibitions include “Elizabeth Sher: Lightboxes” (Marina Abramovic Institute West, San Francisco, CA), and "Mixed Media on Paper" (Heller Gallery, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA).