Black marble sculpture standing next to its plaster maquette. I love seeing the repetition of form at the two sizes.
Title: “Contemplation”, marble, 19″ x 6″ x 6″
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Images
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On the studio shelf
I like to keep my maquettes at hand in the studio. I rearrange them into different groupings to see if any narrative arises that appeals to me. The two faces sharing one eye was inspired by ancient Tlatilco ceramics from the Valley of Mexico, pre-dating the Aztecs. I amused myself by having the hand creeping out the top.
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Leaning into the Wind
I’m so looking forward to seeing Leaning into the Wind, a film about British artist Andy Goldsworthy. His inventive interactions with his environment are mini escapes from our thinking on how to be in this world.
At the Vancity Theatre June 4, 2018
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Looking at Drawings
Looking at drawings is one way I find inspiration when planning new sculptural forms. This portrait by Egon Schiele is arresting in the juxtaposition of the large, flat graphic orange shape of the coat and the detailed consideration of the interlocked hands. – Ellen
Life in Motion: Egon Schiele and Francesca Woodman review – vulnerable beauty
Egon Schiele and Francesca Woodman both died in their 20s. Here, their elegant images of the body under duress expose the difference between an artist’s real and invented dramas
Source: Life in Motion: Egon Schiele and Francesca Woodman review – vulnerable beauty
Sculpture expected to make over £1m was forgotten by family in Wales who owned it
Source: Canova Bust of Peace on sale in first public outing in 200 years
Photo: Sotheby’s. The Bust of Peace, a recently rediscovered sculpture by Antonio Canova (1757-1822).
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Cheekwood Botanical Garden
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Welcome to the Orange West
These drawings are the mesmerizing work of Joel Daniel Phillips at Tinney Contemporary in Nashville. His beautifully rendered artwork of the majestic buffalo are caught mid-stride and hung frame by frame in a manner reminiscent of Eadweard Muybridge who chronicled both the buffalo and Indigneous peoples across the U.S. in the 19th-century. A video animates the drawings and coupled with a haunting soundtrack makes a particularly poignant statement of the brutality of western expansion. October 7 – November 11, 2017.
“Vertical Solitude”, one of my abstract landscapes, has been hung horizontally by the interior designers. I’ve got no problem with that. However you’d like to see the art is the way it should be hung. The Smithe, 855 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC.
Artist’s Statement
When I first set out to create a new artwork, I sometimes spend a lot of time choosing the first image I’ll work with. Not so with this one. I knew right away I wanted to use some of the lake and shoreline images I’d captured on my trip to the Rocky Mountains. As I began to work up the image I started to use looser textures that I felt were like calligraphic brushwork in traditional Chinese paintings. I turned the composition vertically and continued to build the composition, thinking about the majesty of the vertical rock faces and how the natural world is also permeated by a delicate ecosystem, composed of many interdependent entities, powerful yet fragile.
Print in Limited Edition: Available at Art Works Gallery
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In the studio
Working out some ideas in a clay sculpture maquette.
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The Thinker
I like putting my sculpture maquettes into different scenarios. Using photographs or in combination with other sculptures, the juxtaposition leads into the possibility of a narrative.
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Walking Figure Maquette
This walking figure maquette is one of my new sculptures. I’ve been working on my idea of using the body as a metaphor that expresses the negative impacts of consumerism. How burdened we become by too much unnecessary stuff in our lives. Similarly, our burdens can be psychological or emotional. They are unseen, yet carry great weight, so much so that they disfigure us.
View more walking figures.
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Kneeling figure
I’ve been experimenting with simplifying the volumes of the body. This kneeling figure shows a powerful form. I’ve taken liberties with the anatomy to focus on projecting an emotionally charged figure of strength. Yet despite its strength, it’s kneeling and perhaps struggling to stay upright as seen by the tensed arm.
I had the pleasure of working again with Vancouver’s Insight Design Group on a residential interior art commission. This painting was created for Mosaic Homes’ Cambria Park development on Vancouver’s westside. It was on view at the display home at Cambie and 41st Avenue until the development sold out. Measuring 33.5 x 60 inches, the generous canvas size gave me lots of space to explore the gorgeous colours in the interior design palette.
Design Process
I started with a base of organic shapes from photographs I had taken of interesting local rock formations and foliage. This base composition was then printed with aqueous pigmented inks onto canvas. I subsequently set to work glazing the surface with layer upon layer of semi-transparent colour. Bold brushwork in the lower half of the painting brought a lot of energy to the piece and really added to the strength of the composition.
To commission artwork, please call me on 604.417.8645 or email ellen@ellenscobie.com
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Custom Residential Art
Insight Design Group of Vancouver commissioned me to create a 40×40 inch custom canvas to hang over the fireplace in the Beverley Display Home. The Beverley is a new project by Cressey Development in White Rock, BC.
The artwork is based on “Teach Me to Forget”, a limited edition print I created a few years ago. The interior designers loved the colour and composition of that print but needed a larger work in a square format. I worked with them to create a custom mixed-media painting just for this space. I love how the vibrancy of the artwork provides a real focal point in this room with its elegant, neutral palette.
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On Wednesday it Rained
On Wednesday it Rained, Photo-based Printmaking
Artist’s Statement:
It was an uncommonly wet and miserable April afternoon in the old part of the city. A soft rain began to fall creating a drizzly curtain of reflective light. The blurry wetness slowed the city’s pace and served as a reminder of the beautiful redemption of not always being able to see clearly.