February 1-26, 2011
Seasons in Silk and Paper
Ellen Milan: Paintings on Silk
Ann Miller: Collage on Paper

Ellen Milan and Ann Miller are artists whose work is informed by a deep and affectionate connection to the natural world. This exhibit features works that reflect this connection in relation to the seasons of the year.

ELLEN MILAN:
As a painter and printmaker I find the basis for my work in my drawings, which are of images around me.

My paintings on silk are of landscape and garden. The silk is a sensuous surface that seems to work well with the nature theme.  In these works, I am interested in the gestural movement of the brushstroke. I want to give an ongoing mutual feeling between myself and the viewer of being with the application of the paint … of remaining in the moment of creation.

My interest in different printing processes led to incorporating monotype printing into the the silk painting process. This brought an element of spontaneity and some surprising results that than needed to be worked into the whole of the painting.

The process is still my main interest and I love to be surprised. These works are a celebration of life.

ANN MILLER:
If you look long enough and closely enough at anything organic, you will see that it is in motion, growing, changing, sloughing off the old, dying and being reborn. I like to look closely at things that grow and move: tree branches and bark, brooks running around stones, leaves, ferns unfolding.

In my work I hope to capture the rumble and whoosh of energy moving, to make intimate, momentary connections to places that are in the process of becoming something else.

In collage, my entrance to the work is often the free-form generation of materials, with little thought to what they may become in the piece. When my mind is free and my hands are in charge, the barrier between the world of the studio and the internal world of the work becomes permeable. I use my own photographic material and papers that are colored and patterned using a variety of techniques. These pieces become my stash in the way that quilters accumulate fabrics. I generally begin with particular colors and progress intuitively, letting the work emerge as I go. I often have a sense of digging deeper as I add layers on top of layers.