A note on the meanings

Hey everyone!

I wanted to address the reason why I give explanations beneath my art work on this blog. I explain my art work, so you can see my initial reason for creating the art. Also, because most of the art I make is conceptual and can be categorized as "modern" art, I try to provide insight to the symbolic nature of my pieces. I do not write these explanations, in order to force you to see my perspective. I write them, so you can see my reason for making the piece, but I just want my art to evoke feelings. I do not mind if you see my perspective or even care about it. I do hope, though, that my art work can be a point of departure for your thoughts and feelings. If my art work reminds you of anything...I have done my job.

Peace,

Ella

A Jump In Logic

"A Jump in Logic" acrylics, marker, cotton & nylon fabric.

My inspiration for this piece was the long history of the nautical star. The stories of how sailors and navigators relied on the stars for sailing and guidance was the first idea I worked with when planning this piece. I also learned that the nautical star is usually the decoration that is used to hide the metal rod that is installed in the sides of older houses-the nautical star holds the rod in place and keeps the house from falling apart. This stability that nautical stars hold was the idea that ended up becoming my final inspiration. I used complementary colors to make the stars stand out. This was the first time that I mixed fabric into the paint for the background. I tore nylon and cotton t-shirts and mixed them in with the black. I did this because I wanted to create a feeling of disorder and chaos, contrasting from the stars, which I wanted to make bright and stable. Thoughts?

Me and Marilyn.

"Me and Marilyn". Original Photography, digital effects.
After watching the movie, My Week with Marilyn, I was inspired to create a piece dedicated to her influential role in my life. Now, this should be known: I have always been a Marilyn Monroe fan; this movie just made me realize that I should dedicate a piece to her. I first remember seeing Marilyn on a wine bottle label in house growing up. I instantly thought she was beautiful, and felt like there was something behind her beauty that was even more profound. Throughout high school, I collected pictures of Marilyn off the internet, and started reading about her life. I feel like she was an inspirational female actor, whose complexity and simplicity mix to make her very mysterious. I have read about pieces of her life, and I am currently reading a book about her. I feel like I have several connecting points with Marilyn, which explains why I was initially curious about her and interested in her life. Although Marilyn is not on this earth anymore, she is definitely still very alive.

My Four Mothers

"My Four Mothers", Mixed Media

This sculpture represents my four mothers: three extended, one biological. I wanted to create an homage to these women who have encouraged my creativity. Cindy, Teresa, KW, and my mom have all supported my pursuit of art. Not only have they supported me, but they have pushed me to ask, "What if..?" in my art throughout the years. The metaphor I worked with for this art piece was, "These four women have fueled my creativity as air fuels fire." The parts of this piece that holds significant symbolism are the candles and the flames. The candle on the left is taller because it represents my three extended mothers. I used scale to show how many people each candle represents (height); therefore, the candle on the right is smaller because it represents one person: my biological mother. I did not create the scale difference, in order to signify importance. I used scale variety to represent the number of people only. The two candles together represent a passage together, in which my mothers have created for me. This passage opens every time I see one of my mothers, and I am able to refresh my creative perspective through them. The flames are significant because there are hearts that I sculpted inside of the flame. Each heart represents one of my mothers.

I did not have any specific artist for inspiration in mind when I was creating this piece. However, while I was sculpting the flames, I realized that they were very surrealistic. I have always been attracted to the surrealistic movement, and I have always been drawn to Salvador Dalí's work.