Lyrical allegories and strong, brilliant color led jurors to select the work of Liz Conces Spencer for the 2005 University of Houston Women’s Archive and Research Center’s cover.  The  image “ In the Garden of Flowers and Souls” is central to the poem/art piece “Remembering You”, a memory of and tribute to Conces’ sister Barbara.  The triptych is scheduled for inclusion in the  Archive in 2006.

Her landscape fantasy “Fenceline” was selected to represent the Houston Heights Association’s 2005 Spring Home Tour.  Later in the year, she joined Archway Gallery, Houston’s oldest and most established artists cooperative, the 17^th Fine Art, a collective of contemporary artists, and Church Street Gallery of Rockport, a new gallery in the coastal town of Rockport, Texas.

A painting trip to  Mexico has resulted in Conces’ signing with Art and Philanthropy, a gallery in the seaside resort Punta Mita, which straddles the landpoint at which the beautiful Bay of Banderas rejoins the Pacific Ocean.   Her artwork will be available in the gallery early in March, 2006.

In the fall of 2005, Conces was commissioned to paint a mural for New/Nuevo Heights, an education outreach program, at a local church.  Past commissions include the 1998 major public commission for the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The principal piece "Herald" salutes the urgency and sometimes the triumph of the work completed behind the scenes by medical researchers. In all, the commission consists of three paintings, parallels of artistic process and scientific exploration. The pieces are installed in the research division of the Center.

A product designer for over ten years, Conces designed an internationally marketed line of infant apparel and accessory items. She was Art Director for Little Feet Industries, which manufactured licensed products for Gerber Childrenswear, Gerber Products Division, Binky, SanRio, Crayola and the World Wildlife Fund.  Conces created, licensed and owns copyrights to over one hundred published infant designs.

Her illustrations have also been commissioned and published by numerous clients, including upscale Houston restaurant Charley's 517, the Wentletrap Restaurant at the Tremont Hotel and Luigi's on the Strand (both in Galveston) and the Houston Galleria. She most recently illustrated “The World of Deaf Infants”, published by Oxford University Press in  2004.  She is developing two children’s illustrated books which include her own poetry and writing.

Throughout her career, Conces has been active in art education. A Winant Clayton Volunteer in 1975, she developed and supervised a summer art program for 300 underprivileged children in London. She taught at Houston's St. Thomas High School and Incarnate Word Academy, developing curriculae for both schools. She has conducted continuing education classes and seminars for the Museum of Fine Arts - Houston, the University of St. Thomas, St. Luke's United Methodist Church, and the City of Richardson, Texas. In 1999, Conces and the Wesley House, a community outpost of the United Methodist Church, received project funding from the Cultural Arts Council/ Houston for her afterschool art program for underprivileged youth. She now teaches art in inner-city schools for City Artworks, a non-profit enrichment program, and at Project Row Houses in a program funded by the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts.  In 2005, she joined the staff of Young Audiences of Houston.

In 1996, she cofounded the White Oak Artists Collective.   During a seven-year exhibition period at the Firehouse in Houston’s Heights area, the group contributed funding to charitable and educational organizations in addition to showcasing Texas artists. Beneficiaries of donations to date have been local chapters of the Girl Scouts, the Houston Heights Association, the Greater Houston Education Project, St. Thomas High School and Parents as Care Managers, Inc.

Conces has worked in the advertising industry since 1996 until the present. She was Broadcast Production Coordinator for McCann-Erickson Southwest until 2000, when she joined J. Walter Thompson/Houston  (JWT) as Broadcast Business Manager.   

R E S U M E

Featured Artist, Archway Gallery, 2006

Cover Artist, Houston Heights Association “2005 Spring Home Tour”

Cover Artist, University of Houston Women's Archive and Research Center “2005 Table Talk”

Xnihilo Gallery, Houston (2004: one person show)

Dakota Lofts Gallery, Houston (2004: one person show)

Visual Arts Alliance, Houston “Twentieth Annual Juried Exhibition”

Featured Artist, Houston Heights 2003 Home Tour

Baquero Gallery, Houston (2002: three person show)

Best of Show, Painting … Bayou City Art Festival, Houston

Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council Award…Rio Brazos Art Festival, Granbury, TX  “5th Annual Juried Exhibition”

Richardson Civic Art Society, Richardson, TX “35 th Ann. Regional Juried Competition”

First Place, 2-Dimensional….Rockport Art Festival, Rockport, Texas

Solo restaurant exhibits: Divino, Dominic's, Tropioca

1990 – 1999

Best of Show, Painting…West End Art Festival, Chicago, Illinois

First Place, Juried Arts… Houston International Festival

October Gallery, Houston “Above and Beyond” (group show)

Featured Artist, Mother Dog Studios….Art Crawl, Houston

October Gallery, Houston “Human Shrines” (group show)

Best of Show, Painting… Bayou City Art Festival, Houston

Honorable Mention…Festforall, Baton Rouge

White Oak Artists Collective Inaugural Show, Houston

First Place, 2-Dimensional….Rockport Art Festival, Rockport, TX

INNOVA Design Center, Houston “Circles and Spheres” (group show)

Best of Show, Painting…Festival in the Pines, Flagstaff, Arizona

Trammel Crow Art Center, Dallas “International Nexus” (group show)

Houston International Festival Invitational Exhibition (twice)

Westside Art Studios, Houston (one person show)

October Gallery, Houston (two person show)

South Texas College of Law, Houston (one person show)

Fountainhead Gallery, Houston “A Number of Artists” (group show)

Purchase Award, Citibank… Northbrook, IL

Purchase Award, Northbrook Star News… Northbrook, IL

Bath House Cultural Center, Dallas (one person show)

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Invitational Exhibition

1979 – 1989

Purchase Award, Fort Worth Juried Fine Arts Competition, Fort Worth

Second Place, Montrose Art Alliance “pARTicipation” (group show)

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Invitational Exhibition

Watercolor Art Society, Houston “Invitational Retrospective: Women Achieving Awards in Watermedia”, Houston

O'Kane Gallery, University of Houston (two person show)

Missouri Street Gallery, Houston (group show)

Galveston Art League, Galveston “Thirteenth Annual Spring Exhibition”

Montrose Art Alliance, Houston “Men and Women Together”

Houston International Festival Invitational Exhibition

Besselman Gallery, Houston (two person show)

Christ Church Cathedral, Houston (one person shows, twice)

Houston Art Education Association “Artstanding Educators”

Watercolor Art Society, Houston “First Anniversary Gala”

Watercolor Art Society, Houston “Fall Membership Gala”

Art League of Houston “Fall Festival”

Third Place, United Artists of Texas Gallery, Houston “All Media Juried Exhibition”

Besselman Gallery, Houston (one person show)

First Place, Westheimer Colony Association Spring Design Competition

Second Place, Westheimer Colony Association Fall Design Competition

First Place, The Galleria, Inc./ Houston City Magazine Design Competition

Texas Watercolor Society, San Antonio “31 st Annual Exhibition”

Honorable Mention, Art League of Houston “Waterbase Media Show”

Art League of Houston, Dimension Houston XIV”

Honorable Mention, Watercolor Art Society, Houston “Annual Exhibition”

Restaurant exhibits: Zanzibar ( Dallas – two person show), Heights Corner ( Fort Worth )

Education:

BA, Art University of St. Thomas, Houston 1975

Continuing studies: Houston Community College, The Artery

Professional:

Winant Clayton Volunteer, London 1975 (developed art program for 300 children in adventure playground project)

Teacher, St Thomas High 1982 – 1986

Teacher, Incarnate Word Academy 1984 - 1986

Product designer and art director for Little Feet Industries and Pinky Baby Products 1984 – 1992 (copyrights to over 100 published infant designs)

Instructor, continuing education programs for Museum of Fine Arts/Houston City of Richardson, Texas, St. Luke's United Methodist Church ( Houston ), University of St. Thomas ( Houston )

Co-founder & Exhibition Coordinator, White Oak Artists Collective 1996 - 2003

Teacher, Creative Alternatives/City Artworks (various public schools) 2000 – present

Broadcast Traffic Coordinator, McCann-Erickson Houston 1996 - 2000

Broadcast Business Manager, Ogilvy & Mather/J. Walter Thompson Houston 2000 - present

Teacher, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (Project Row Houses) 2002 – present

Instructor, Young Audiences of Houston, 2005 - present

Grants and Commissions:

Program Grant, Cultural Arts Council Houston (through Wesley House) 1999

Commission, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center 1998

Commission, New-Nuevo Heights 2005

Galleries/ Art Dealers

October Gallery, Houston, TX

Archway Gallery, Houston, TX

The 17th Fine Art, Houston, TX

Church Street Gallery, Rockport, TX

National Art Services, Houston, TX

Phone: 713 869 0441 or mobile 713 898 6568

Web: www.lizconces.com Email: liz@lizconces.com