Through her work in both the print and visual mediums, Elizabeth TenHouten has shown that self-love and self-expression go hand-in-hand when performing the work of an artist. She has turned both her own physical form and the pages of her poetry books into a canvas for emotional self-meditations and evocative visual narratives. From her early experiences exploring the expressive possibilities of poetry to her work as a model for renowned visual artists such as Tyler Shields, Mallory Morrison, Daniel Maltzman and Emma Ferreira, she has dedicated her life to bringing both her own artistic vision and the unique visions of photographers, artists, and designers to life.
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As a child, Elizabeth’s artistic horizons were broadened through the activity of memorizing, analyzing, and writing poetry. By the time she was a teenager, she had developed a healthy appreciation for the ways art could take her inner thoughts and turn them into living, breathing words on a page. Around the same time, she was first scouted by an agent, causing her to consider the possibility of a career in modeling. However, she was told that she was not tall enough for markets outside of Asia, although she would be highly in demand there. Faced with a decision between finishing her education and uprooting her life to be a model on the other side of the world, she chose to remain in the United States and continue her education, eventually graduating from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor’s Degree in philosophy with honors.
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However, she took the opportunity to revisit her earlier modeling aspirations later in life, when she joined a modeling website where, attracting a great deal of attention, began to work with a variety of photographers, amassing credits for a substantial and notable personal portfolio. She combined her interests in art and modeling while working with creatives such as photographers, painters, and even a sculptor. By leveraging her own personal connections in the art world, she was able to be a part of many exciting projects. Among those were writing the foreword for Daniel Maltzman’s art book ‘Daniel Maltzman: A Retrospective’, after posing for one of his paintings. In addition, she modeled for Emma Ferreira’s book, ‘TROMI: The Reality of my Illusion’, one of the photos of which remains on display in the lobby of the world famous Hotel Danielli in Venice, Italy.
Among her earliest major modelling achievements, she walked the runway for couture fashion designer Emily Factor’s debut line in 2008 in addition to being photographed by Emily’s world famous brother, Davis Factor. While on the couture scene, Elizabeth also modeled for Natalia Fedner multiple times for her lookbooks and Instagram. She went on to work with a lineup of artistic visionaries, including photographer Mallory Morrison, for a series of breathtaking underwater shots that were later displayed at Morrison’s gallery exhibits in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She has also been photographed for magazines such as Pet Home Magazine, Style & Bliss Magazine, and Arsenic Magazine.
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Elizabeth has more recently leveraged her experience in modeling to enhance the artistry of her poetry, as seen through the bold, beautiful, and expressive photos of her that accompany every poem in her book, ‘The Stars Fell into the Ocean’. The photographs help tell the stories behind each of her poems and encompass a wide range of themes including heartbreak, love, and loss while also transforming the book into a dazzling work of mixed-media art. Today, she is more focused on her writing projects and musical work as a singer-songwriter, using her strong background in visual art to inspire her explorations of the intersectionalities between different styles of art, allowing her to showcase her vision of beauty to the world.
Presented by: APG
