Artist Statement

Creative self-expression
To make the unseen visible
To see the underlying unity in everything

These are my goals as an artist and as a spiritual being making a human journey. I began my adult life defining myself as a dancer (modern) and a teacher (of children). The only thing that has changed over the years is the depth of my understanding, and the mediums I use to express it. I dance less, paint and sculpt more and I have fallen in love with natural fibers. Line, form, pattern, texture, flow, depth of light, color, rhythm and imagination have always been my favorite tools. Using them to express ideas that are inspiring to me is an endless source of joy and makes me feel that I am fulfilling my life's purpose.

I think it was Joseph Campbell who said an artist's job is to make the unseen visible. That might mean to present something ordinary in a way that allows the viewer to experience it differently, but I like to think it also means to actually see or picture (imagine) unseen forces and processes and create images of them. That's what fairies and gnomes and other "imagine -- ary" beings are, but they are not un-real . These processes have purpose and intelligence and our world could not exist without them. They are beings because they possess individual consciousness and can be communicated with. Imagination is the doorway and the vehicle into this unseen world. What is beyond the door transforms from make-believe to a visible reality in an instant and the question of an unseen reality is then replaced by inner knowledge. This inner world is an integral part of our existence and is worthy of our attention, respect and awe. If we would communicate with these intelligences (beings) many problematic issues in our "real" world existence could be resolved. If we insist that only the physical, material world is real, then we will continue to be blind to the whole of reality and in our blindness our actions will continue to be harmful. How intelligent is that? It's no wonder that gnomes think human beings are really not very bright! Anyway, we do recognize the existence of unseen realities! We believe our thoughts are real, and electricity and magnetism and communicating though space via computers and cell phones and all sorts of things. It's not that much of a leap to understand that there are other intelligent beings within our world who long to work with us toward mutual self-sustaining goals. However, human beings have a special gift that is not shared by the other beings within our world and that gift is Free Will. Having it, means that we must initiate the conversation!

I hope to share the beauty of the world as I experience it with the viewer. My heart-felted wool sculptures seem to create themselves and teach me something new every time I channel one of them into my life. It is truly a magical experience. I do not intend them to be cute and I don't want to create anything shocking either. I actually experience them to be beautiful and completely natural, though the fairies especially, seem to go through a very scary stage during development and I have to cover them until they are complete. I understand the sublime appeal of shocking people out of their usual way of thinking, which modern art has embraced. However, in this new time we have entered, I think less frightening images will better enable us to move on. Moving forward means to rediscover what has value and still makes sense and adapt those things in new ways to ourselves; to our individual and group realities. With all our differences there are still basic values and simple desires that we all share and this is part of an underlying unity that connects all of us to each other, to all things and all the processes and intelligence of this world, both visible and invisible. That is what my artistic expression is about and what I hope the viewer will "get".

Beauty is Harmony is Love is Peace.

            Lu Ellen