Liz Collins is renowned for her textile-based art, pushing boundaries with fabric, yarn, and other materials. Her abstract work, rich in bold colors and patterns, subtly references queer and feminist themes, drawing inspiration from forces like electricity and energy exchange. Collins often explores the interplay of structure and entropy in her art, from textiles to installations, using processes like deconstruction to challenge rigid systems.

Liz’s solo exhibitions and installations have been presented in New York City institutions - Museum of Arts and Design, the New Museum, Leslie Lohman Museum, and at galleries- Candice Madey, LMAK, Heller, BGSQD, and BRIC. Outside of New York, Liz has done shows and projects at the Tang Museum (Saratoga Springs, NY), RISD Museum (Providence, RI), Knoxville Museum of Art (TN), and Touchstones Rochdale (England) and at galleries- Luis de Jesus Los Angeles, AMP (Provincetown, MA), Gallery DLUL (Ljubljana), and Rossana Orlandi (Milan). Liz’s work has been included in group exhibitions at the Addison Gallery (Andover, MA), the Drawing Center, ICA/ Boston, Leslie Lohman Museum, LACMA, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Museum of FIT, National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Canada, the New Museum, MoMA, the Shepherd (Detroit, MI), and the 60th Venice Biennale; and at NYC galleries- Asya Geisberg, R & Company, Sargent’s Daughters, Susan Inglett, and Superhouse as well as September Gallery (Hudson, NY), NoLAB (Istanbul), Kristin Hjellegjerde (Berlin & West Palm Beach), and Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

Collins’ honors include an Anonymous Was a Woman Fellowship, a USA Fellowship, a MacColl Johnson Fellowship, Foundation for Contemporary Arts & ArtistRelief grants, Drawing Center Open Sessions and residencies at Siena Art Institute, MacDowell, Yaddo, Haystack, Museum of Arts and Design, and a subsidized studio at the Two Trees Cultural Subsidy Studio Program in Brooklyn. In 2020, the Tang Museum published Liz Collins Energy Field, Collins' first major publication, and in 2025, RISD Museum published Liz Collins: Motherlode, with HIRMER, on the event of Collins’ mid-career retrospective at the museum.

Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Arts and Design, the RISD Museum, the Tang Museum, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, the Museum at FIT, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Mint Museum, and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), among others. Collins serves on the board of Queer|Art and is a multi- year Queer|Art Mentor.

Portrait by Joseph Kramm

Career backstory:

Liz received a BFA and MFA in Textiles at RISD in 1991 and 1999. Upon graduating from RISD with her MFA, she launched her own knitwear focused fashion label with a runway presentation in New York during fashion week. She spent the following four years growing her company, designing, producing, showing, and selling clothing for the international fashion market. Her collections received lots of media attention and Collins developed a following for her innovative knitwear.

In 2003 Liz joined the RISD Textiles faculty, during which time she moved into making art and consulting/design development for other brands. Her fashion label shifted into a project based endeavor, with occasional forays into capsule collections. In 2013, Collins left her faculty position at RISD in order to more fully pursue her art and design career. She has since taught at SAIC, MICA, Pratt, Parsons, and Moore College, and has been a visiting artist and critic at many art and design schools.

Liz has received many awards and accolades including a United States Artist Target Fellowship, a MacColl Johnson Fellowship, and a CeCArtsLink Grant that supported her producing a KNITTING NATION performance/ installation in Zagreb, Croatia.