Liz Toonkel is passionate about work that strives for social change through humor, spectacle, and transgression.
Liz Toonkel is a creative force who believes in the storytelling power of design in theater and visual art. Her work, which ranges from performance, installations, and films, strives to wield a power that serves the LGBTQIA community, BIPOC, and womxn. Her practice breathes life into animals, female archetypes, and human body parts to reveal those specific points of view. Using character, costume and sleight of hand, Liz creates spaces of relatability, visibility and provocation. Pulling from her expertise as a production and costume designer for film and theater, she wields entertainment value as a point of access.
As a queer Jewish female magician, performance artist and animal rights activist who felt the magic show format needed shaking up and was in urgent need of fresh approaches. Toonkel thrives on storytelling being deemed “a fantastic storyteller” (The Sappy Critic) and “an irresistible performer who deserves to break out in the UK and worldwide” (To Do List) and her work ranges from performance and installations to films.
She recently performed and displayed her artwork at the 2024 Hollywood Fringe Festival (Winner: Best Costume Design, Nominee: The Splash Award, Soaring Solo Social Impact Award, Best Cabaret & Variety), The Center for the Arts at Kayenta, the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (4 stars (To Do List), Highly Recommended Show (Fringe Review)), the 2023 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Aarhaus Festuge with Live Art Denmark, Honor Fraser Gallery, LAX Festival, ltd Gallery and the 2016 Queer Biennial in Los Angeles. Liz was nominated for an Art Director’s Guild award for her production design of the Oscar nominated animated feature film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Liz was the first time recipient of the Calarts Distinguished Young Alumnx of the Year Award in 2023 for her work across the arts.
Liz has been a resident at Asylum Arts, Automata, PAM, The Marble House Project and the Transart Institute in Berlin. She has studied clown and performance with Spymonkey, Dr. Brown and the Idiot Workshop. She earned her BFA at New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts in Film & Television Production with a minor in Gender & Sexuality and holds a dual MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Art & Technology and Scenic Design. She is a magician member of the Academy of Magical Arts. Check out her production design work at www.liztoonkel.com