ELIZABETH BUCK, ED.D. | HARDWICK, MASSACHUSETTS
Living with major depression is a delirium all it's own, and not often a subject I often turn to in my art, yet this call was inspiring. Between my own experiences with the dark and a visit to the Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum this past summer, I felt these shadowy pieces needed to come to light.
I am an artist, art educator, and access advocate. I encourage others to express their creativity and showcase their vision through accessible, supportive teaching approaches, often working with students with disabilities.
As an artist, I strive to capture the feeling and essence of a place, concept, emotion, or experience. I often work in watercolors, though I also work in inks, graphite, colored pencil, fiber, and more. I love discovering how things work, so I have expanded my practice to encompass pigment sourcing, paint making, book binding, and more.
Highlights of commission work include working with MassMoCA to help fabricate art installation pieces alongside the Yes Men and William Pope L. When the Manager of Studio Programs at the Worcester Art Museum, my performance was awarded the Lynn S. Feldman Distinguished Arts Educator Advocate Visual Art Award by Arts|Learning.
As an individual who lives with major depressive disorderand a cancer survivor, health and wellness (or lack of it) play a large part in my life and artisticpractices. This influence, coupled with a visit to the Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum (TALA) in West Virginia in summer 2025, provided delirious inspiration. I aspired to capture a balance between the macabre history of TALA and the beauty found in the light, architecture, and degradation of the facility. These works are painted with my handmade watercolors made from hand-sourced pigments on Arches paper. They are then built into shadow boxes using mylar and small battery-powered lights.
Outside of my art and teaching, I am a wife, mother, and breast cancer survivor who lives with MDD. I am an avid reader and gardener who loves travel, chocolate, good friends, and a dose of sarcasm with a good cup of coffee.
False Hope in Ward Three: TALA Series 1, 11.5 x 11.5 in., Illuminated light box and-sourced pigments, hand-made watercolors, Arches paper, mylar, and illumination. // $350
Ghost of Inebriate Sociality: TALA Series 2, 11.5 x 11.5 in, Illuminated light box, hand-sourced pigments, hand-made watercolors, Arches paper, mylar, and illumination // $350
Lithiated Lemon Soda: Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum Series 3, 15 x 19 in., Illuminated light box, hand-sourced pigments, hand-made watercolors, Arches paper, Canson, mixed media paper, gold spray paint, and illumination // $450
Elizabeth Buck’s work demonstrates how art can straddle communities, bridging personal experiences with our collective understanding. Through her exploration of abandoned buildings, mental health, history, and healing, she invites viewers to confront difficult truths while finding beauty in the resilience shown in her work. Her commitment as both artist and educator underscores how creativity can dissolve boundaries—between illness and recovery, isolation and connection, dark times and light. Again, we see Buck’s practice embodying the unifying power of art: its capacity to build empathy, create access, and bring people together across differences through shared emotional states and give the courage to see.
This theme of connection in Elizabeth’s work through vulnerability is a congruent thread woven throughout Delirium, where our artists transform personal struggle into collective understanding. Together, this collection as a whole reveals how confronting the shadowed parts of the human experience can unite communities—something we all desperately need all around the world right now.
