Artist Liz Birdwell finds a home on the coast, landing residencies at Hatfield center and Yaquina Head

By KATHLEEN O’CONNOR/Lincoln Chronicle

Sometimes it seems that the stars have lined up to reward you for your education, hard work and willingness to dream. That’s how Elizabeth “Liz” Birdwell felt when she was selected in July as the artist-in-residence for both the Hatfield Marine Science Center and the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area.

Her residency at Hatfield began Sept. 1 and lasts three months; the Yaquina Head residency is for two weeks and ends Sept. 27. The two awards came on top of her selection earlier this year as one of three artists chosen to paint new murals for the Newport bayfront.

Birdwell first visited the Oregon coast in 2019, while on vacation with her family – they traveled from Multnomah Falls to Florence. At the time she was a student at Cañada College in California studying art and animation. Set to graduate in 2020, she hoped to get an internship in the film industry in southern California, but the pandemic interrupted those plans.

At home with her family during the pandemic shutdown, she had time to build her art portfolio, but, more importantly, she had time to consider where and how she really wanted to live. She kept remembering the Oregon coast and thinking about how frantic southern California could be. When close friends moved to Cottage Grove in 2022 she moved with them, considering it to be a step closer to the coast. In 2025, she relocated to Newport, finding a place with two college friends.

Question: How did you decide that Newport was the place for you?

Answer: About a year after I moved to Oregon, my best friend and I finally took a trip to the coast. We visited the aquarium and I loved it so much that I signed up to volunteer once a week. For two years, I drove two hours each way to fulfill a four-hour volunteer shift. It was a great way to learn about intertidal life and back home I began drawing and sculpting all the creatures I met there. I would also visit the tidepools at Seal Rock and Yaquina Head whenever I was here at low tide. Now I feel like the intertidal zone is my second home.

Q: What type of art do you do?

A: I have been drawing since I was old enough to hold a pencil, trying out all kinds of art as I grew up.

My mom, who taught kindergarten for several years, was the homeschool teacher for me and my siblings. We studied all morning and then I spent the afternoon playing outside catching whatever creatures I could. Our parents both strongly encouraged our creativity. In college I studied art and animation, and became skilled at digital art. I’ve used those skills to create scientific illustrations and educational art for several Lincoln County organizations, including the MidCoast Watersheds Council, the Elakha Alliance and the Cape Perpetua Collaborative. I paint nature with acrylics, almost always choosing something in nature as my subject, and I sculpt with polymer clay. I enjoy creating jewelry and miniature sculptures in the shapes of intertidal creatures – sea stars and nudibranchs, for example.

Q: 2026 has been quite a year for you. Tell us about the two artist-in-residence programs you have been chosen for.

A: They are similar in that both seek to feature artists whose art focuses on marine and coastal habitats and communities, but they are quite different in other ways.

Yaquina Head has just one artist-in-residence each year, for two weeks in the fall. The program is offered through a partnership between it, the Oregon Council for the Arts and Friends of Yaquina Head. Each artist-in-residence is asked to create an art object for the interpretive center to keep and display, and to lead a community art project. My art object will be a sculpted tide pool, filled with dozens of intertidal creatures. I’ll be at the interpretive center for four hours each day, creating these pieces and talking with visitors. Saturday, Sept. 26 is National Public Lands Day. That’s the day my community art workshop will take place. The public will be invited to come and paint the intertidal creatures, in whatever colors they would like. The goal is to demonstrate how human creativity and nature intersect.

The Hatfield residency programs can last from one to five monhs; mine is three months. During that time, I have studio space to create art and to hold regular hours for the public and the Hatfield staff. I get to choose my own projects, and one thing I would like to do is create games for families to enjoy when exploring tidepools – perhaps bingo cards or scavenger hunts. I have another bigger project in mind, too, but it hasn’t been finalized.

Q: How did you create the mural you have on the Bayfront?

A: Each of us created an 8- by 12-foot mural on marine grade plywood, which is designed to resist moisture and delamination. A generous friend of mine allowed me to paint it on her front porch. I used acrylic paint and after I had completed half of it I turned it upside down to paint the rest.  I’m not sure why, but I had the idea for my mural as soon as I saw the call for artists. Usually, it takes longer for me to develop an idea for a project.

Q: What is the most exciting thing about the recognition you’ve gotten in the last year?

A: I am quite overwhelmed by these opportunities to let people know about my art, and I am very grateful.

Two things stand out. First, this recognition seems to confirm that this is the place I am supposed to be, and this is the type of art I am supposed to create. Second, a fabulous component of the Yaquina Head residency is that I will be having my own art show next spring at the Visual Arts Center in Nye Beach, in collaboration with the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts. This is a remarkable opportunity for me, and I am so excited about it.

Tell us a secret.

From the time I first visited Newport I had such an intense gut feeling that I should be exactly here – in this town — on this part of the Oregon coast. It felt like a “need,” not just a “want.” I’m so happy to be here.

Contact: lizbirdwell.com