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Exploring the whimsical art world of Dallas’ own Elizabeth Dryden.
Written by Jenn Thornton
One of the most vibrant artistic talents of her generation, contemporary artist Elizabeth Dryden applies her bold touch to creating high-spirited and richly hued works of mixed media art for a fresh, ebullient take on the American West. In her world, animals are pearl snap-shirted cowboys. Bison drink beer. Cacti flourish as an imaginative patchwork of color and pattern. Nothing is real yet everything is true to Elizabeth herself.
“Everything I create comes from the heart,” says Elizabeth, who is anything but a blank canvas. She is a woman who knows she is and what she stands for. She’ll tell you what she thinks. “I am inspired by traditional values, love, passion, and hard work. I believe that much of this is lost today, and I try to bring it back into the world, adding a modern spin,” she says. “We have to accept change in the world while simultaneously holding on to who we are and what we believe in, having grit and tenacity to go against the grain if need be.” Spoken like a born Westerner.
“We have to accept change in the world while simultaneously holding on to who we are and what we believe in, having grit and tenacity to go against the grain if need be.”
Elizabeth Dryden
Elizabeth’s roots in the West run deep. A native Texan, she’s a distant relative of Buffalo Bill Cody—Elizabeth’s mom recently showed her some of the showman’s silver baby spoons she’d been keeping in a drawer—and a proud one to boot. Elizabeth admires the way Buffalo Bill helped others view the Wild West anew. “He used a source of entertainment to bind together all those involved in the Wild West at the time, in a way that could connect with everyone.” Art, she notes, is similar—and her art, in particular, as it fuses new interpretations of old West themes.
“The Old West is about tradition and consistency, effort and hard work, relying on self and God in all situations,” she says. “Not giving up when times are hard and enduring the ups and downs of what life throws your way.” But it also makes way for the new technologies of today. “It is important to accept and grow with changes, yet also not conform and lose the core that makes you unique.” Authenticity, in other words, both personally and artistically. “I love bright color, texture, patterns, and shapes!” she says. “You can observe combinations of all these things everywhere in nature.” A single sunset, for example? “The possibilities are endless!” In combining different ideas and subjects to form something new and interesting, Elizabeth portrays the everyday in new and exuberant light.
Elizabeth also draws inspiration from her very own backyard. “As a 6th generation Texan, it is hard to escape its pull on my heart, knowing it will always be home to me. From the flat West Texas plains to the big city of Dallas, to the rolling hills of the Hill Country, to the humidity of Houston, I have spent so much time exploring and making friendships throughout the state,” she says. “Like art bringing people together, Texas itself has a way of doing the same thing. Texas is tough, once being its own country, and yet is so welcoming and friendly to all who make their way there.”
Her flair for individual expression, meanwhile, is a quintessential quality of the broader American West—a breeding ground for doers and creators. “The American West was built on belief in oneself, faith, and going against the grain,” Elizabeth explains. “Trying something new, giving it your all, not being afraid to go forward with your own ideas and having the freedom to do so. In the art world, you must be tough, not afraid of what others think of you. Not everyone is going to like what you create, and that is okay.”
It is to Elizabeth’s great credit, then, that lots of folks like what she creates. Over the last several years, she has dipped her toes into commercial work, completing the first pair of commercial boots (called “Yellow Rose”) for Dixon Boots, a custom boot company in Texas. She’s also worked on several projects for another Texas company, Double D Ranchwear. Like many younger creatives helping shape the new American West, Elizabeth says, “We are creative and can take the past and pair it with the future, being open to whatever that may be. We can’t look back, but we can take what was taught to us and bring it into the world today, keeping the values and convictions that heroes like John Wayne had. Be bold, know what you stand for, don’t back down out of fear, and my favorite”—the John Wayne maxim—“‘Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.’”
To that end, Elizabeth is finishing up 20 pieces for a solo show at the Sibley Nature Museum in Midland, Texas, exhibiting this month through June. She’s also hitting the spring art festival circuit—in her “Yellow Rose” boots, naturally—where she’ll set up shows at multiple locations and festivals throughout Texas. “The West is wild, which makes it a great place to let your creativity fly!”
