GreenHill
Image Courtesy: GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art
Falling, 2017
Barbara Ellis
Gallery:
GreenHill
Exhibition:
North Carolina Women Abstract Painters
On Display:
February 7th - August 15th, 2020
Hours:
Temporarily Closed
For months I had been looking forward to March 12th… It was to be the day I would get to see my friend Barbara Richter in her new role as the director of GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art. In honor of the beautiful exhibition Edie Carpenter had curated, North Carolina Women Abstract Painters, and to celebrate National Women’s Month, Susan Fisher Sterling, director of the National Museum of Women Artists in D.C., was coming to give a lecture and Barbara kindly suggested that I come early to walk through the exhibition with the artists and both directors. Basically, the day could not have been more up my alley. Sadly, COVID-19 had other plans, and I have yet to be able to see the exhibition in person.
Just last week, I was revisiting the artists’ interviews and images Barbara had shared with me and was enjoying learning more about the talented artists within the show: Eleanor Annand, Barbara Ellis, Celia Johnson, Katy Mixon and Felicia Van Bork. While reading, I came across something that Felicia Van Bork had said that feels so beautiful and timely.
“There is an aching need for empathy and tenderness in the world and I am teaching myself these things as fast as I can.”
May we all do the same.
North Carolina Women Abstract Painters has been extended through August. I hope to see you there and that we recognize each other to say hello from behind our masks. Until then, here is a sneak peek of my favorite piece from each artist.
Falling, 2017, Barbara Ellis (Pictured Above)
Influenced by the great women abstract expressionists that came before her, Ellis sees art as a spiritual returning to self—a welcome departure from the corporate conformity she once found herself a part of.
Image Courtesy: GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art
Rest I, 2020
Eleanor Annand
With a diversity of practice and a feeling of belonging, Annand finds the perfect balance between the “intuitive and the analytical.”
Image Courtesy: GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art
Bauspiel II, 2018
Celia Johnson
Excited by the “concreteness of color and shape” and inspired by the freedom that collage brings, Johnson finds her “joy as a maker.”
Image Courtesy: GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art
Sprinkle, 2019
Katy Mixon
‘Finding confidence in what comes easy, trusting in her movements, and forgiveness when things don’t go as planned,’ Mixon’s textured landscapes are reminiscent of Dreamtime Paintings and speak to connectivity and evolution.
Image Courtesy: GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art
How to Visit the Aunts, 2016
Felicia van Bork
“Testing accepted rules of art making and searching intuitively for surprising beauty,” Van Bork's works showcase her strong visual vocabulary and serve as an invitation for contemplation.