I'm a visual storyteller… I work non-figuratively to create a series of vignettes using metaphors as stand-ins. I portray the cast of "characters" in relationships using artistic license to exaggerate the "who, what, why, and how" people behave. The resulting intuitive mixed media constructions are the essence of my artwork.

The first metaphor I ever used was a simple school chair, grounded by four legs in an open gesture…loaded with childhood memories. The chairs became portraits recalling extended family.

My studio, fifteen minutes from home, shares a wall with a small barbershop and a quiet overhead apartment. This tranquil space envelops me with my thoughts. I'm surrounded with all kinds of tools, books, hardware, paints, papers, threads and yarns, and cabinets filled with textiles. These supplies are organized as my working palette.

Since each character in the vignettes possesses its own unique identity, I marry the art materials with them, like casting a film. I experiment with mini samples to examine the possibilities, then mount the samples on the wall to photograph them for an additional view. After a good night's sleep and distance from the former day's yield, I continue the artmaking PROCESS, my favorite part of making ART.


art as internal journey

my art making is an internal journey

with external souvenirs

on my trip I carry a soup pot for serving

memories, sensations, and responses

to the world around me....and consider "what if?"

a few of my traveling companions are Gego, Antoni Tapies,

Leslie Dill, Anne Hamilton, Richard Tuttle, Eva Hesse,

Ursula Von Rydingsvard, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Anne Truitt

you will always find in my suitcase:

family photo albums
matte medium
carpet thread
straight pins
12" ruler
wire
bag of clay
old books
scissors
paint brushes
bolt of muslin
found items

heavy drawing paper
sewing needles
Caran D'ache pencils
x-acto knife
needle nose pliers

with my suitcase, soup pot, travel companions, and NPR, I travel to incredible places where there's always room for guests on the journey





     
Solo and Invitational Exhibitions  
     
2019 a sense of place Little Library, Cochranville, PA
2019 of matter and metaphor Shannondell, Valley Forge, PA
2019 sew on and sew forth Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA
2018 Untangled Goggleworks, Reading, PA
2016 Formed Line/Lined Form Blue Streak Gallery, Wilmington, DE
2016 Fluidity Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
2013 The Wisdom of My Insecurities West Chester University, West Chester, PA
2012 Clean Shirts and Dirty Business Painted Bride Art Center, Phila, PA
2011 ars domestica Susan Hensel Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2009 …of time and place Nexus Fd'n for Today's Art, Phila, PA
2008 Traces InLiquid, Hall Project @ Crane Bldg, Phila, PA
2006 a gathering Nexus Fd'n for Today's Art, Phila, PA
2006 gathering again Wilson Gallery, Moore College of Art, Phila, PA
2005 Matter Over Mind Chester Co. Art Assoc, West Chester, PA
2003 …in her footsteps Widener University, Chester, PA
1999 Shirttales Nexus Fd'n for Today's Art, Phila, PA
1995 A Soap Story Chester Co. Art Assoc, West Chester, PA
1994 Veils of Spirituality Phila Museum of Judaica Philadelphia, PA
1993 Laundry: A Ritual of Cloth Nexus Fd'n for Today's Art Philadelphia, PA
1992 Washday; Some Thoughts on Laundry Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1989 A Cast of Many Nexus Fd'n for Today's Art, Phila, PA
1988 1+1+1 Wallingford Art Ctr, Wallingford, PA
1986 Catharsis, Ritual, and Experience Delaware County Comm. College, Media, PA
1986 The Beauty of Holiness National Museum of American Jewish History, Phila, PA
     
Prizes and Awards  
     
2019 Site-specific Installation Little Library, Cochranville, PA
2017 Best of Show Wallingford Art Ctr (Artist Equity) Wallingford, PA
2016 Honorable Mention, Sculpture Wallingford Art Center, Wallingford, PA
2016 Best of Show Wallingford Art Center, Wallingford, PA
2015 First Prize/Watercolor Wallingford Art Center, Wallingford, PA
2011 First prize/Sculpture Wayne Art Ctr(Artists Equity), Wayne, PA
2007 Second Prize/Mixed Media Wallingford Art Ctr, Wallingford, PA
2004 Artist in Residence Strathhaven High School, Wallingford, PA
2001 Caroline Weintraub /Memorial Award Artforms Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2000 Second Prize / Sculpture State Mus of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
1999 Artist in Residence Grant "Minority Women in Print" Ringling School of Design, Sarasota, FL
1997 Newman Gallery Prize Main Line Ctr of the Arts, Haverford, PA
1997 Jill Jones Nauta Prize Chester Co Art Assoc, West Chester, PA
1995 Purchase Prize/ Bristol Myers Squibb Printmaking Council of NJ, Somerville, NJ
1991 Jurors' Prize Perkins Ctr for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ
     
Libbie has been teaching mixed media workshops since the 1990s. Since 2006 present, she and her husband, Alan, have been teaching Art Incubator Workshops in Jamaica, West Indies, Florida, and Mexico, and at her husband, Alan's studio in Wallingford, PA. The workshops conclude with an art exhibition of workshop artists' work made during the workshops.
     
Soffer and her daughter-in-law, Gwen, lead "Women's Circle Retreat" at Pendle Hill Study Center, Wallingford, PA. An exhibition featuring the art and text written by participants during that retreat took place at Art on Avenue of the States, in Chester, PA from Nov Dec 2012.
     
A public conversation with curator, Thora Jacobson, and Libbie Soffer took place during the opening reception of "...sew on and sew forth," a visual essay on stitching a life. Libbie taught a collage workshop offered concurrently with the exhibition at Main Line Unitarian Church.
     
Libbie Soffer
2 Blackthorn Rd, Wallingford, PA 19086
lthreads@comcast.net | www.InLiquid.org