Vincent VanGogh and Artists Unknown

Helene and I often look at a piece of art and say we wish we knew the history, the life that it could tell, the creator’s hand, its travels to our time and place. Of course we realize that our own creations are also on their own journey.

Over these many years we have often “rescued” other artists’ works from thrift stores and property sales. In bringing these works into our own environment we have tried to protect them for a time from the ravages of their journey, pondering the art pieces path to this precarious position.

When we go to an estate sale we recognize and respect the home owner’s efforts of their life’s adventure. Their story is often told in their things, including art works, on sale in their homes.

A few years ago we went to a sale that blew us away by the sheer number of paintings lined up on a damp cement basement floor each at minimal prices. As we looked at each one, still life objects on canvas, portrait drawings, we knew we were having a rare moment. Our inquiries were simply answered that the artist passed away with only a disinterested family member far away. The artist did not try to sell paintings during her lifetime. We bought arm loads, cleaned the mildew and growing mold and carefully stored them until their story might continue into the future.

Every active artist ponders their works and wonders what will happen to their pieces on shelves, in cupboards, and stacked under beds. Who will take that second look and maybe say, well done artist, I hope you had a life fulfilled.

First Light 30x40 acrylic, currently at MEDC

I am back to painting and feeling great. We are very pleased that Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) recognizes Michigan artists as a part of their mission of economic development. Currently, arranged through Michigan ArtShare, I have 14 paintings on the main floor of the MEDC building, 300 N. Washington, Lansing. MEDC is open week days during regular business hours.

In addition, I also have two paintings in the McLaren Physicians Building, Lake Lansing Rd., Lansing Michigan. I also have submitted a few paintings at the beautiful Shiawassee Art Center, Owosso Michigan. It feels so good to be back producing and sharing paintings.

One of the most inspiring events of last year was a trip to Detroit Art Institute to see over 70 public and private masterpieces of the one and only Vincent VanGogh. This wonderful exhibition is only shown at the DIA and only here in the U.S. until January 22. We hope you will try to get to the show within the few days remaining.

If you know of friends and others interested who would like to receive the Joel Ellis Art blog news, please share the contact. The website will be updated soon. Thank you for your patronage and your appreciation of artist’s expressions. Temporary contact address: helliesplace@outlook.com. 

Here Today 16x20 acrylic

Purple Dunes 16x20 acrylic painted edge

Sharing Art Inspiration at Good Venues

It is gratifying for most artists to show their work. Often at receptions for a show people ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer. The number one that is on the viewers mind … can you guess? ... What inspired me to paint that image? Was I there? Did I do it on sight? Or did I use a photo?

This is a hard question to respond to because I prefer to have seen the image in the real world or more at least in my mind’s eye. I guess a more direct answer is I like to paint from photos that I have taken at an inspiring scene. That way the sense of place is easier to capture and put on canvas. Yes, I do have a bunch of thoughtful photos taken from faraway places and many nearby.

A more recent challenge came this week when I wanted to paint from the memory of an emotional moment. In a Michigan state park we found two grave sites on a little trail. The marker explained the sad events of those who died. The story was haunting as we experienced it in the woods surrounding the marker.  But the photo was missing from my stash. I forged ahead anyway. The canvas was made ready, paint applied and the moment of our experience was on canvas titled River Spirit.

River Spirit, 24x30 acrylic on canvas

A few days later I was looking for another photo and found the missing image surprising me because the painting proved my memory was still intact. The desire for the image had captured the sense of that haunting moment.

The short answer for how do I get the inspiration for the painting is to be still on those moving occasions, soaking in what I see, and imprint the emotional image on my mind. Then I take a photo just in case.

Ephemeral Moment, 30x40 acrylic on canvas

This year has been and continues to be very satisfying with interest in my art. We recently sold a special piece at the Shiawassee Art Center member show – Ephemeral Moment which is still up at the Art Center until August 25. We also received a call from Corporate Portfolio for two of my paintings purchased by Mercantile Bank in Grand Rapids.  Today we are preparing for a show at Focus Hope, 1355 Oakman Blvd. near downtown Detroit , with a unique lunchtime reception on Wednesday August 28. The exhibit is sponsored by Michigan ArtShare . I am very excited about these validations of my work. Thank you to all who have made this possible.

        For questions about Joel Ellis Art paintings or venues, please drop a note to Joel Ellis Art and I will be happy to get my staff (Helene) to share with you.

Peace,

Joel

Healing With Art

       It has been a long a time since I have written the Joel Ellis Art Blog. I could use the usual excuses, and do I have a long list to draw from, nothing to compare to Picasso painting with WWII gun battles blazing in the streets of Paris. Amazing that he could continue to work at all.

       A few years ago I took high school seniors to Washington D C.  We went to the holocaust museum where the seniors viewed the art created  by children in concentration camps. There wasn’t a dry eye in the senior class.

Michigan Sands 13x15 oil on linen

       The arts can be very healing and help us explore our inner soul, such as the healing we so long for in the times of stress and doubt. So we pick up where we last felt at peace and continue on the path to connect with the creative inner voice. All will be fine, just carry on.

       When someone wants your work for their collection it is validation that your efforts have been noticed and it made a connection. The artist’s efforts will be a part of a new home. I would like to thank all the new owners of my art work that have made this spring so meaningful to us, and may the new art enrich your lives for years to come.

       Following are some of the paintings purchased this year from Joel Ellis Art. Thanks to all who chose to put these and other works into their original art collections. Thank you also to Shiawassee Art Center in Owosso for the beautiful place to exhibit quality art from Michigan artists.

Welcome Home  19x25 acrylic on canvas

Evening Breeze 18x24 oil on linen

Spirit of Three Fires 24x30 acrylic on canvas

Amber Eve 24x30 acrylic on canvas

Early Walk 30x40 acrylic on canvas

Shiawassee Arts Center Show is Ready

Island Birth  18x24  oil on linen

       After a sleepless night and the next day packing the transport boxes in two vehicles to deliver paintings, the Shiawassee Art Center show is on its way. The smiling volunteers waiting to hang the show greeted us with warm welcomes. As they worked on their project two reporters from the local newspapers were interviewing for their stories from the participating artists – Karen Kangas-Preston, photography, Douglas Thayer with his strong forged metal work, and me with my curious abstracts and dunes.

Spirit of Three Fires 24x30 acrylic on canvas

       The first reporter worked on the Michigan connection that is behind many of my pieces. He asked if living in the Great Lakes area had an influence on my art. I flashed years of hiking the ever changing dunes, waking to subtle light bouncing off the magnificent Lake Michigan, slipping on a frozen coast just to get that special picture, but I just nodded yes to the reporter. We walked over to a painting titled Spirit of Three Fires, referring to the Anishinabe legend of the Algonquin First Peoples that populate the Great Lakes. The reporter and I both knew the location of the reference photo.

       The other reporter was also interested in motivation and how that motivation influences the paintings. We looked at the painting that was selected for the Michigan Governor’s Residence Artists Program, (see Surprise in Fort Wayne blog) the large Touch of Lavender. This painting has a lot of texture and as we moved our fingers over the thick paint I told the story of a previous art show where a blind visitor moved her fingers over the surface to “see” the painting. Every art piece has its own story, a collaboration between the materials, the creator and the viewer’s perception of the outcome. We all bring to an art show our experiences and expectations.

 

Wheels of Fortune 20x24 acrylic on linen

       We walked around the gallery, she asking for the motivation that jump started the creative experience and me telling the story that helped to bring the visual to life. Both reporters were asking the same basic question, what was my motivation. This is the question most viewers ask when they look at any art. What are the influences behind the finished art work? 

       Some art is an expression used to support a belief or a statement - political, religious, romantic - and some tell a story that is influenced by the times the artist works in. We each create for our own reasons. Even though I have blogged about this before the question always comes up in interviews and discussions, what is behind the paintings. Each painting has its own story as well as its own history but that is another blog post for another time.

       Thank you for your interest in these blog posts. For more paintings you may want to check the website, www.joelellisart.com or better yet, if you are in the area please check out the Shiawassee Arts Center Spring presentation in Owosso, Michigan. The show runs through April 14, 2013. Please feel free to share this blog with friends who may enjoy reading about the artist’s experience. I am still awed by the story in the  previous blog on the Peru, Indiana High School art treasures.

Earth Cycle  18x24  acrylic on linen

Joel

Big Surprise in Fort Wayne Indiana!

Out of the Box  20x24 acrylic on linen

       We have been preparing a show of 30 paintings for ShiawasseeArt Center (SAC) the last few weeks. All the paintings are framed and in shipping boxes waiting for the drop off day. The prep work for any major show takes many hours of caring for details and at times frustrating delays but all is completed as we are looking at our sore finger tips from the hanging wires. Ah, a sigh of relief.  

       Helene and I needed a little R and R so we took a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana to the art center area. The first visit was to Art Link, an old favorite art venue. In one small gallery space we saw young children’s art that was so pure and sweet. We could just imagine the small hands plying with their creations. Art Link shares space in a building of Arts United. Lots of education going on here that includes visual and performing arts.

       Across the street at the newly redesigned Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA) we were astounded again by young artists from high schools in 54 counties of Indiana and Ohio. The museum offers one of the rare scholastic arts programs in the country highlighting the value of art education. The works of these young people was very inspiring and gave us hope that the new generations will be just fine and the arts will thrive into the future.

      We walked through the American Tapestry Biennial 9 show in another gallery of the museum with intricate beautiful works. We said to each other, “how can this get any better?”

The next large gallery room we glided into under the haze of Stendhal syndrome - too much fine art. We almost zipped through this gallery of large colorful paintings without a closer look. Stendhal on hold our quick glance around the large gallery was stunning. I had to sit and regain some form of composure. While sitting in a stage of utter surprise I let the magnificent paintings come to me, and they came - with their stories and their own histories of survival.

       Closer inspection of images spanning mid-century master works surprised me. Hidden Treasures the sign said: The John Whittenberger Collection of G. David Thompson at Peru Indiana High School. What? A high school collection in Peru, Indiana? What was this story all about? We asked at the desk and got a fragment of the story. Thanks to the internet we were able to piece most of the story together.

       G. David Thompson, a Peru High School alumni back in 1913, called a troubled student, found art and art appreciation through a beloved teacher, John Whittenberger. Thompson left Indiana for Pittsburg where he became a financial investor and an executive in Pittsburgh steel industry. But it was art and art collection that gave him great pleasure. In 1938 he donated 8 pieces of his collection to Peru High School in the name of his mentor, Whittenberger.

       Throughout the years until his death Thompson donated a rich collection of works by Picasso, Dali, Miro, Roualt, Predergast, and dozens of other fine art paintings along with ancient Oriental pottery, 200 items in all. The trouble was over those years that these treasured works became too valuable to hang on the walls of the old high school. When the new school was built in 1970 the works were tucked carefully away in a closet designated as the janitor’s supply room. Art teachers over those years knew about the works and even used a few now and then for their art education.

       It is the students of those lessons that have taken the initiative to present the valued collection to the public and the students of Peru as intended by the gracious donor G. David Thompson. A new gallery is being built in the high school along with high tech security. What a story! What a testament to the value of a good art education in the schools.

       I hope you get a chance to explore art in your area and if you get to the Midwest check out the venues at Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Unfortunately the premier showing of Hidden Treasures will be closing February 24. The student scholastic show continues until mid-April.

       And if you are in mid-Michigan during March and early April please come to the Shiawassee Art Center (206 Curwood Castle Drive, Owosso, MI 48867) to see Joel Ellis Art in the main gallery. Other artists in the building include blacksmith metal artist, Doug Thayer and photography by Karen Kangas-Preston. Opening reception is March 1 from 6 – 8 pm. 

       Hope to see you there.

Earth Cycle 18x24  acrylic on linen

Touch of Lavender  36x48  oil on canvas , Governor's  Residence selection

Wild Summer 30x40 acrylic on canvas

Three of the paintings in the upcoming show at Shiawassee Arts Center February 26-April 14

Opening Reception Friday, March 1 6-8 pm

Look about you, folks and enjoy!

Joel