Resident Artists

Liz Magno

Mixed media artist Liz Magno works both two- and three-dimensionally, often experimenting with nontraditional materials and processes. Her work has been exhibited widely throughout the region, as well as in Italy, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Liz was born in Philadelphia and grew up in a number of places in both Pennsylvania and California. She completed several years at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at Montclair State University in New Jersey. She also studied at New York University and Moore College of Art in Philadelphia.

Liz works with many of the region’s theater companies and universities to create masks, and she also teaches classes and residencies, curates exhibitions and writes criticism. As an instructor at the Banana Factory, she teaches mask making, papermaking, origami, drawing and more. Although she works with many materials, her recent work has focused on using recycled materials such as Styrofoam and leftover photo background paper.

Although Liz believes that art should be experienced at the ‘gut level,’ she also feels that creating art is a mental skill and not a manual one.

“Making art in the 21st century requires not only knowledge of art history and art making skills, but also a curiosity and desire for knowledge about all aspects of the world around us,” she says.

Artist Statement

“Bethlehem has an illustrious historical past. We know this past through the art, architecture, crafts and community institutions the people who lived in this past created. In the future people will know us the same way. I think the Banana Factory and all the other ArtsQuest programs will prove strong and relevant enough to last beyond the tenure of those who work here today.”

-Liz Magno