North Carolina painter Elizabeth Bradford’s work showcasing the natural world is highlighted in an exhibit at the Cameron Art Museum this summer.
by Liza Roberts

“To have arrived at this age, having survived several brushes with mortality, I find myself in an unexpected time of growth and newness,” says artist Elizabeth Bradford. “My ability to be expressive has never been stronger or clearer.”

Bradford’s large-scale, technicolor depictions of the natural world draw a viewer into the untamed wilds of North
Carolina and beyond: beside riverbanks and millponds, into tree canopies, reedy creeks, bays, lagoons, and eddies where people have left no trace.

With its unapologetic devotion, unexpected color, and subtle focus, Bradford’s work has been the subject of many prominent exhibitions over the course of her career. Her work is also in the permanent collections of museums, including the Mint in Charlotte and the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, and many corporate collections.

If you find yourself headed toward the beach this summer, consider visiting the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, where A House of One Room: Elizabeth Bradford will highlight her work through Oct. 17.

If one of her pieces is mesmerizing, 20 are transporting.

The artist, who is from Davidson, constantly seeks new inspiration, taking long excursions into unmapped wilderness for days at a time, camera and sketchbook in hand. Lately, those trips have been especially fruitful.

“For me, the wild world is all miracles, unreeling from some endless spool,” Bradford says. “The paintings are me trying to bring miracles inside, to live with us in the human world.”