About

Eliza Wagner currently lives in Chicago, IL where she is earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Her studies are focused in the Fiber and Material Studies department as well as the department of Arts Administration. Wagner plans on using the knowledge acquired from working in fibers to inform her work as a curator of fiber arts. After she graduates in the spring of 2021 from SAIC, Wagner hopes to work in arts administration while maintaining a studio practice in Chicago. She interned at Concord Art in her hometown, Concord, MA, during the summer of 2019 and will be the Family and Youth Programs Intern at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA during the summer of 2020.

Wagner spent three summers teaching fiber arts to kids at the Concord Academy Summer Camp. During that time, she realized the importance of understanding even basic fiber techniques, such as sewing and weaving. Teaching fiber arts also brought attention to the calming effect of tactile art making. The appreciation she gained from teaching fiber arts to children carries through her work and into the way she approaches making her own fiber-based work and how that process of creation adds to the conceptual understanding of the work.