Sunday, November 04, 2012

Ellen Abraham: Courageous ARTsister

If there's one word to describe my fellow ARTsister Ellen Abraham, it is "courageous".

She bravely volunteered to single-handedly head up a project of a unique collaborative project by ARTsisters, a local group of professional artists, of which I am a member (You can visit our website by clicking here.)

Over a year ago, the idea was born in the mind of ARTsister President, Linda Dubin Garfield, that we could somehow recycle our old art to create something new. It would be one small way to remind our fellow human beings about the importance of taking good care of our planet.

During the next several months, we discussed the idea at our monthly meetings, brainstorming together, suggesting processes, hashing out possibilities, refining, ... and this past Friday, November 2nd, 2012, I attended the culmination of our efforts. "Shades of Green" is the name of the exhibition on display right now at the Delaware Horticulture Center in Wilmington Delaware.

As I mentioned, Ellen showed us all that she is a very brave soul, when she agreed to take on the task of being in charge of this monumental undertaking. Twenty-three ARTsisters donated some of their artwork to be recycled. Ellen created an initial design in a small format, then, with the donated art, she cut, ripped, glued and painted images onto four large canvas panels. She also spent hundreds of hours facilitating the many, many visits from fellow ARTsisters who lent a hand in its creation. All of us helped in many ways: painting, repainting, collaging, scraping, discussing, critiquing, changing, ... until it morphed into the colorful creature which currently hangs on the wall of the DHC's gallery.

"Shades of Green" - ARTsisters 2012

If you find yourself near Wilmington Delaware, I urge and invite you to stop in! Although this piece is the main attraction of this exhibit, also on view (and on sale) are individual 12"x12" green-themed paintings which were painted by all the ARTsister collaborators. There is also a photomontage (created by ARTsister photographer Lynnrae Fenimore) of some of the thousands of photos which were taken during the process.

 From all of us: THANK YOU, ELLEN!

Some notes:
 A percentage of sales from this show will be donated to the Delaware Horticulture Center.

Because several of the ARTsisters are also members of the Delaware Valley Art League, there is a web page about this event on their website. You can read it by clicking the link below.
http://www.the-art-league.org/Member-News.html

I leave you with a quote that gave me a chuckle...
from http://goodreads.com
Clive Barker
“any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.”
Clive Barker, Days of Magic, Nights of War



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