Elizabeth Prior began her relationship with metal at the Hilltop Craft Center at the University of Maine, Orono, while an art major there in the 70ʼs. After an eight week Concentration in metal at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina she attended the Portland School of Art (now Maine College of Art) graduating in 1982 with a BFA in jewelry and metals.

Her work immediately gained national recognition thru her first of many appearances in an American Craft Council wholesale market in 1988. A strong aesthetic and classic designs held her place as a standard in galleries and museum shops across the country into the next decade. During the past five years Elizabeth has stepped away from production to explore materials of color: polymer clay, fiber and, most recently, lampworking glass. Today she works with silver, gold and color in her studio in the Ferry Village neighborhood of South Portland where she lives with her springer spaniel, Abbie.

What she terms “an extremely formal education in fine art and design” coupled with the pursuit of a purposeful life guide her work with the materials she loves.