Shop Maine Craft presents:
WHAT IF?
A solo exhibition of an artist’s challenge towards artistic expression by Lonie Ellis at the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner.
On view April 1 – May 28, 2024
Lonie Laffely Ellis is an artist who enjoys working in multiple mediums. Her interests include ceramics, encaustic painting and fiber arts, among others. Her creative hours are spent working out of her home studio in Topsham, Maine. Lonie’s work has been shown in solo and group shows as well as galleries and local businesses. She has participated in several outdoor art festivals, and has received awards and recognition at many juried art events around the state.
Lonie’s art background includes some formal education at local universities, though she attributes most of her knowledge to curiosity, exploration and play.
As a curious artist I am often asking myself“ What if?” I truly enjoy exploring various ways to play with art by incorporating different materials or combining different mediums into my work. This show is a sharing of some of my explorations and new ways I have pushed my use of traditional materials.
Much of my clay work is inspired by the Maine coastline. My ceramic pieces are hand molded or carved giving each a unique form. Once it is completed, it is bisque fired in an electric kiln. Some pieces are then fired a second time outside in a perforated metal container filled with seaweed, leaves, hay, wood shavings and compost. This allows the work to smoke for several hours. The smoke is fused to the bisque surface creating unique and varied effects on the pieces. Other pieces are glazed or hand painted and finished with an encaustic medium.
Encaustic painting has become a favorite method of adding color to my art. Encaustic painting has been around for hundreds of years, often used for funeral portraits in ancient Egypt. The word encaustic comes from the Greek word enkaustiko, which means to “burn in”.
Encaustic paints are made from combining molten beeswax, resin and pigments. The hot wax is applied in layers using a variety of tools and methods. Each layer is fused to the underlying layers with a heat source. This layering process creates depth and a luminous quality to the finished painting. The versatility of this medium encourages exploration. It can be applied very thick to create textures, scraped to reveal underlying colors, carved, etched and embossed. Photos can be transferred to the surface or found objects can be embedded into the painting.
All of the work exhibited was created under the motivation to push myself to think differently about each medium and to challenge myself to solve unconventionally. These works are inspired by my curiosities; It is my hope that you enjoy my out of the box thinking and that it may ask you, yourself, to think “What If?”