Georgia fiber artist Eliza Bentz among 16 finalists selected globally to exhibit work in Washington, D.C.

Eliza Bentz, a Savannah-based artist who has been featured in several Atlanta galleries, has been selected to show her work in Washington, D.C. at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) exhibition, Women to Watch 2027: A Book Arts Revolution.

The Atlanta-based Georgia Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (GANMWA) nominated Bentz for inclusion in the exhibition, which will be on view April 9 through August 15, 2027. Sixty-two artists from across the United States, Asia and Europe were nominated; only 16 were selected.

The Georgia committee highlights outstanding work by women artists in the state. GANMWA has participated in NMWA’s Women to Watch initiative, a global program, for the past five iterations. For each cycle, statewide outreach committees appoint a consulting curator to select five artists working within the theme established by the national museum.

Cynthia Nourse Thompson, a professor at Kennesaw State University, was the curator for Georgia Women to Watch: A Book Arts Revolution, the local exhibition that brought the selection process to Atlanta. The show was hosted February 1 through May 17 at Atlanta Contemporary, a nonprofit arts center in West Midtown.

The theme centered on book arts — the practice of creating books as art objects, rather than merely vessels for text or images. The discipline draws on a wide range of skills, including bookbinding, paper making, typography, design, letterpress, risograph printing, sewing, weaving and sculpture.

Thompson is a longtime specialist in book arts and printmaking. She previously served as associate professor and director of graduate programs in book arts and printmaking at University of the Arts in Philadelphia, received her BFA in printmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art and has curated more than 50 exhibitions since 2000.

Through statewide research, Thompson identified five artists, including Bentz, who utilized a broad range of approaches and techniques to elevate book arts.

Bentz pushes the boundaries of what a book is. A fiber artist and sculptor from the barrier islands of Southeast Georgia, Bentz works with natural, repurposed and found materials to create fine art and objects. Her practice is firmly rooted in textiles as both a communicative and organizational power. Her work overlaps text and textiles, as well as the woven and digital matrix. Drawing upon millennia of craft history, Bentz considers her work a form of tactile resistance — an antidote to the consumption and convenience of our industrialized and digital world.

Bentz has presented work in group exhibitions across Atlanta, including at Atlanta Contemporary, Swan Coach House Gallery and Echo Contemporary Arts. In 2025, Whitespace Gallery in Inman Park hosted Bentz’s solo exhibition in its Whitespec space. Her work is also currently on view in the international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Bentz completed her BFA in fibers from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2017, where she now serves as a professor. She holds an MFA in studio art from the University of Georgia, awarded in 2025.

Tia Blassingame, a guest curator for Women to Watch 2027: A Book Arts Revolution, said in a press release that Bentz and the other 15 artists highlighted in the upcoming show “truly represent the book arts revolution occurring across the globe.”

“These artists reimagine, interrogate, dissect and even erase the book,” she said. “The topics they explore encompass personal histories, cultural identities, language, the man-made and natural environment, immigration/migration and women’s rights.”

Katie Johnson, a representative of GANMWA, said the committee is thrilled that Bentz was chosen to represent Georgia in the nation’s capital.

“Through the years,” she said, “our participation in the series has proudly showcased more than 20 Georgia women artists on both the local and national stage.”

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Louise E. Shaw served as executive director of Nexus Contemporary Art Center (now Atlanta Contemporary) from 1983 to 1998. The legendary Nexus Press, devoted to the production of artists’ books, was a programming division.