East Rock Record Reporters met via Zoom with Elizabeth Taylor, a local artist who works as LaCroix Artistry. She works in many mediums and forms, including creating public art on traffic boxes in New Haven, on glass for local businesses and murals on the sides of buildings. She shared images of her work and spoke with reporters about the experience of making it (including dodging traffic and getting bumped by a city bus!) and how she came to be an artist. Here are their reflections:
LaCroix Artistries aka Elizabeth is a public artist who makes public art. She takes 6-10 hours to make a piece and does it in the public of downtown New Haven. Elizabeth is a very good artist who likes orchids and making art outside of Starbucks and downtown and almost got hit by a bus while doing it. This shows that sometimes art is very dangerous and takes a lot of skill. I think that is admirable and the risk she takes to make art is cool. I learned a lot about her art and how public art works. –Sahil Lemar
LaCroix Artistry (Elizabeth Taylor) has some really cool and nice looking art. There was not one piece I did not like. I liked that it looked kind of cartoony and that it was pretty bright colors like the octopus she made for a coffee shop. I feel like public art is really cool and important because public art can be used in many different ways like advertisements and to stand up for stuff. So, I think that people who make public art are really cool and I wished there were more people like them. –Elias Plascentia
Elizabeth was a South Dakota native. Each of the art works took 6-10 hours to make. She started her business by drawing her house, posting on Facebook and then selling it for money. Now she paints for the city and people’s businesses. Her favorite art she made is the orchids in downtown. She paints layers and layers of paint when she puts it on the windows of businesses. She sketches out the art for clients, but likes free play drawing. Elizabeth knows the traffic times so she can paint the orchids. —Jasiel Munoz
Today, we watched a presentation from Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth is a South Dakota native, but she was raised in Idaho. She is a public artist, and she told us that each of her paintings takes 6-10 hours to complete. We think that this shows that she takes her art seriously. Also, she started her business by remaking one of her old art pieces five years ago. When she posted the design on Facebook, it opened the door to several opportunities. One of her favorite paintings was an orchid with a black background. She shared one of the art pieces with another artist, they made a nature themed piece to replace a graffiti painted wall. To add more to show that she takes her art seriously she figured out the exact traffic time to paint her orchids. Overall Elizabeth is an amazing artist who I hope goes far in life. —Leia Vázquez
Elizabeth Taylor said that for one of her paintings on a traffic box, she had to weave in between roads because of how busy the street was. She said she likes painting nature because it gives her endless inspiration. She also said she likes art because she has freedom in her schedule. —Rafi Conroe
One painting was very scary because it was on a busy street. She said she likes painting nature because there are so many possibilities. She likes to paint in unexpected places. —Dima Ali
Elizabeth is an artist who gets paid to do art in public places. She works in New Haven, CT. I had the opportunity to interview her and view her work. Many of her projects that I saw were on street boxes and were nature designs. I loved how she drew nature, and how she color matched the flower petals and the backgrounds. I love how she was creative with designs and ideas for her art. Some examples of her work included cherry blossoms, maple leaves, white orchids, and more. She also sometimes works on windows, like for a coffee shop, illustrating tentacles grabbing a coffee mug. Her art is inspiring to all the young boys and girls who want to follow in her footsteps. —Alya Mikkelson
Elizabeth is a creator of art in New Haven. She creates murals. Her art is inspiring because it is just so beautiful and colorful that it makes me want to cry. I enjoy her art so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much. Everything about her art is very pretty. She paints flowers and leaves of plants. The bright colors she uses are beautiful. I really like Elizabeth’s art because she makes New Haven COOL! —Divera Simon
Elizabeth is a public artist, an artist who creates work in public spaces. Her native state is South Dakota, but she was raised in Idaho and she now lives in West Haven. She is now a mom to children. She started painting in high school and everyone offered to buy her work. That’s where her career started. Elizabeth loves to paint on traffic boxes and she loves drawing about nature. Some of her paintings include elm leaves, wild flowers, orchids, colorful maple leaves, a large ice-cream sundae and a tentacle with a coffee cup etc. She finds an endless amount of inspiration in nature and loves to see how nature looks from different angles. Elizabeth loves to do freestyle painting and she believes that “Everyone learns from their mistakes!” —Jashwini Parthiban
Elizabeth the artist creates her mural art for about 6-10 hours. Wow! It is so much time because she puts a bunch of effort and creativity into her art. She paints flowers and leaves, but also makes things near cars. The art is pretty. Elizabeth said “my good art days are my best days and my bad art days can be my worst days.” Even this amazing artist has bad art days like everyone else! —Julissa Daran
The East Rock Record had the honor of being able to interview Elizabeth Taylor, a public artist. She paints on traffic boxes, windows, walls and canvases. She enjoys painting nature and gets paid to create public art in New Haven. I think that what I found out about Elizabeth and her art through the interview was very interesting, especially the objects she paints on. She became an artist because she discovered an old, unfinished painting from high school. She decided to finish the painting. Once she was done, she posted a photo on social media. Many people enjoyed her art and someone even wanted to buy it from her. This is how Elizabeth became the inspiring artist that she is today. —Nayala Conroe
Elizabeth is an artist in New Haven who paints traffic boxes in all sorts of ways. She also paints windows. On one window of a coffee shop, she painted an octopus tentacle holding a cup of coffee. Her favorite painting she has done is a black traffic box with dark green grass and white orchids. I loved all of her work because I love nature and tropical plants and that’s exactly what she likes to paint. I think it’s cool that she paints on traffic boxes and not in an art museum. Cities are usually just concrete buildings but when people paint on buildings it makes the space more vibrant and not just “blah”. —Serelle Barsalou
