About
I am a painter and printmaker working in Provincetown, MA, US. My work focuses on one’s ongoing familiarity with internal and external consciousness in different environments. I aim to create a dialogue with how memory is managed using place-specific motifs in my work.
Embracing process-based abstraction, I use layers of pigment and form to evoke how we experience the weathered memories of place. I focus on rural places that may at times feel forgotten given the crushing drive towards global urbanization. My printmaking is a process of excavation—where emotion, experience, and time meet in layered form. My works chart overlapping layers of consciousness: what we remember, what fades, and what returns altered. The works are made in such a way that they gradually build into textured, emotionally resonant fields. Each print offers a tactile intimacy, reflecting on how specific landscapes hold layers of memory and change. The gestures that surface, recede, and blur into one another hold space for the ambiguous and unseen aspects of places in transition, insisting that even as the world urbanizes, the stories held in these landscapes endure.
My artistic journey has evolved from a dedicated lifelong practice of painting, drawing, and printmaking into a public, professional endeavor. My work has been featured in juried group exhibitions, including shows at Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) and The Cape Cod Cultural Center. I have also had three two-person shows at Four Eleven Gallery (Provincetown, Massachusetts) and have been included in group shows at several other galleries, including, Edgewater Gallery (Brattleboro, Vermont), Galley West Gallery (Orleans, Massachusetts), The Provincetown Commons, The 74 Shank Painter Community Studios, Art Provincetown and Wellfleet Preservation Hall. I am currently represented by Four Eleven Gallery in Provincetown, MA.
My professional training in the arts is a blend of formal foundational education and ongoing practical development. It began with a special art curriculum at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, where I studied composition, design, and color theory, alongside techniques in printmaking, stained glass, and ceramics. This creative background is complemented by a bachelor’s degree in history, as well as a master’s and a doctoral degree in social welfare policy, providing a unique interdisciplinary lens that deeply informs my work. My artistic practice has been further refined through continuing education at key institutions on Cape Cod, including the Fine Arts Work Center and Castle Hill Center for the Arts in Truro, and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. My personal and community art-related work has been recognized with grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Provincetown Commons.
Juried Exhibitions
“Hope in the Moment” Mary Giammarino and Elspeth Slayter, August 2025
Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US
Welcome Home, May 2025
Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US
Bright/Light, Winter 2025
The Cape Cod Cultural Center, South Yarmouth, MA, US
“We move above the moving tree” Mary Giammarino and Elspeth Slayter, November 2024
Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US
Mary Giammarino and Elspeth Slayter, August 2024
Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US
Forum 49, May-September 2024
Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA, US
Welcome Home, May 2024
Four Eleven Gallery, Provincetown, MA, US
6th Annual Winter Exhibit, January 2024
The Winfisky Gallery, Salem, MA, US
Reflections, December 2023
Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, VT, US
Winter Group Show, November-December 2023
Galley West Art Gallery, Orleans, MA, US
Progression: New Paintings, October 2023
The Provincetown Commons, Provincetown, MA, US
Open exhibitions
UN-Common, April 2025
The Provincetown Commons, Provincetown, MA, US
Art Peacemakers Community Art Show for Racial Justice
Wellfleet Preservation Hall, January 2025
Decked II: Artists of The Commons December 2024
Provincetown Business Guild, Provincetown, MA, US
Winter Show, December 2024-February 2025
The Commons, Provincetown, MA, US
Member’s Open Small Works Show, Fall 2024
Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA, US
Artifact: Monotype-Paintings, Open Studios, September, 2024
74 Shank Painter Community Studios, Provincetown, MA, US
Open Studios Show, July 2024
74 Shank Painter Community Studios, Provincetown, MA, US
Winter Show, December 2023-January 2024
The Commons, Provincetown, MA, US
Member’s Open Small Works Show, Fall 2023
Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA, US
Member’s Open Show, Winter 2023
Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA, US
Winter Show, December 2022-January 2023
The Commons, Provincetown, MA, US
Member’s Open Small Works Show, Fall 2022
Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA, US
Town Hall Show, October 2022
Art Provincetown, Provincetown, MA, US
Press
“Indie’s Choice: Hope in the Moment.” (August 6, 2025). The Provincetown Independent.
https://provincetownindependent.org/indies-choice/2025/08/06/indies-choice-243/
“Art that bridges divides.” (January 15, 2025). The Provincetown Independent.
https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2025/01/15/art-that-bridges-divides/
“Twice as nice: Works by Elspeth Slayter and Mary Giammarino.” (November 21, 2024). The Provincetown Independent. https://provincetownindependent.org/indies-choice/2024/11/20/indies-choice-207/
“New Studios — and a Community of Artists — Take Shape on Shank Painter.” (November 13, 2024). The Provincetown Independent.
“Working towards imperfection: Elspeth Slayter layers colors over artifacts and memories.” (August 7, 2024). The Provincetown Independent. https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2024/08/07/working-toward-imperfectionism/
“Progression: Works by Elspeth Slayter at The Commons.” (October 12, 2023). Cape Cod Times.
Residencies
Peaked Hill Trust, Ray Wells Dune Shack, Provincetown, MA, UA, May 2025
Rose and Rosano Studios, Tucson, AZ, US, January 2025
Education
PhD, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, US (2006)
MA, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, US (2004)
MSW, New York University, New York, NY, US (1995)
BA, Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN, US (1990
elspethslayter@gmail.com
Four Eleven Gallery
Represented by Four Eleven Gallery in Provincetown, MA, USA
Four Eleven Gallery is an exhibition space for emerging and mid-career artists from Provincetown and beyond. The gallery also provides a new platform for guest curated group shows. For over 50 years, the rambling white house at 411 Commercial Street has been a studio and home to many artists and writers. Opened in 2011 by Liz Carney, it is a true painter’s gallery that many locals say evokes a feeling of old Provincetown.
411 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657