USA, Clark University
Spring 2014 Program Participant
Final Project Statement “Within, Without, and Between”
I remember closing my eyes as a child to find a world all of my own; a pulsing red symphony on those hot summer days and a darkness broken with strong fuscias and blues as I sat by the fireside during the cold autumn months. The winter season covered the hills and sky in white but offered me private scenes of soft blues and warm yellows. I remember being overtaken by such vivid visions, how they mimicked in either shape or color what was on the other side of my eyelids, and further how they grew into new forms, chasing itself in a game of hide and seek meant for only me to see.
This semester I have continued to study the light as it dances behind my eyelids; a movement through color and form as I see it when I close my eyes. I explore the three spaces in which light occupies: the inner, outer and interstitial. The first series of small paintings form the inner space. These reflections display different visual representations of the after-image from a specific place and time of day. The next group of paintings form the outer space and focus on the movement from one space to another. These landscapes move the eye from foreground to background, and thus from an inner to an outer space. The third part of this series makes the interstitial space. These window studies use both a curtain and a reflection to create a sheer veil between the two previous spaces. Whether opened or closed, the window provides a glimpse into both the inner and the outer space, inviting uncertainty of the unknown. My paintings combine the inner space and the outer space in order to explore what lies within, without, and between.
Self-Portrait Project work, with Spring Project fellow Mequitta Ahuja:
Self-Portrait project work by student Ellen King
“Retreat from Reality” 6-week Project Unit:
Work-in-Progress from first studio exercise “Sight, Site & Seriality”
Intro Unit, Week 3: “Tempo Zulu” Project
For the third and final week of the intro unit, for her “Tempo Zulu Project” Ellen developed a proposal for a paving stone to be installed along the main shopping street of Siena, Banchi di sopra, with the inscription “Perfection f. un’amica che non si può conoscere” responding to the ideals of fashion and beauty and unattainable ideals that are sought after in the context of high-end shopping.
Intro Unit, Week 2: “Mapping and Archiving” Project
For her Mapping & Exploring Project in week 2, Ellen created line drawing self-portraits de-constructed into intersecting line paths.
Intro Unit, Week 1: “Out of the Gates” Project
In the first week of the program, for her “Out of the Gates” project, Ellen responded to the location of Porta Tufi through a paper collage depicting the form of the gate emerging from the pathway below.
Siena Art Institute Blog 