Liz Chilsen is a Chicago-area artist whose works explore connections between human spirit, ancestral time, and physical place.

She is Founder and Director of “Lessons of Place”, a photographic study of endangered places funded in part by Illinois Humanities and centered in small towns and rural areas in Illinois. Her photography includes a long-term study of place dynamics, immigration, and family.

Ms. Chilsen’s work has been exhibited throughout the US and internationally and is held in permanent collections at Detroit Institute of Arts, Wisconsin Historical Society, Nicaragua Cultural Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Illinois Comer Archive, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Chilsen is recipient of numerous awards and honors, including an Individual Artist Fellowship from IL Arts Council, an IL Humanities Bicentennial Action Grant, a Telly Award, National Educational Media Award, and Intercom Award at Chicago International Film Festival. She has been artist in residence at Ragdale Foundation, Chicago Artists’ Coalition, and Hyde Park Art Center’s Center program.

Chilsen holds an MFA in Photography from Columbia College and a Bachelor of Science in Art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is Executive Director of The Riverside Arts Center (RAC).