Elizabeth Ostrander – Artist Insights

Elizabeth Ostrander

Elizabeth Ostrander has not forgotten her “inner woman”.  She celebrates her with clay and a glaze of acrylic paint to make her come alive in so many of her sculptures.

“The mystical and the mythical, the search for understanding and harmony, the conscious creation of self and community are essential parts of my female life and experience,” says Ostrander. “Female images in my sculptures reflect not only my own experiences as a woman, but also synchronicities beyond myself.”

She believes in the power of this connection. It is a balance and a love, along with an understanding of the body as an expressive agent. This originated in her teens while a student of classical ballet in New York.

“I found through dancing that our bodies are places of knowledge and revelation. Early in my childhood until my late teens I studied ballet and experienced my body’s emotional expression through movement. Today, I still love to dance. I enlighten my sculpting-self with my dancing-self by posing my own body in the position I want to sculpt,” says Ostrander. “I want to feel my sculpture both physically and emotionally from the inside out. Some artists find this through music, but it is the physicality of dance that becomes the physicality of my sculptures.”

Nature, especially in Maine, also gives her enduring inspiration. In 1971, Elizabeth moved from New York to the coast of Maine, a move that holds no regret.

“Rural Maine has been my home since I moved from New York City, heeding the call of the then popular back-to-the-land movement. Like many others, I was filled with the idealism of the time, and wanted to live a self-directed life, close to Nature,” says Elizabeth. “I am still grateful for my unique and uprooted New York City childhood, and Eastport has its own distinctive history of artists finding their way to its beautiful shores. My Eastport colleagues and I continue that tradition.”

Grateful for her ability to continue the unfolding adventure of pursuing her work as an artist, Elizabeth celebrates being able to create what she needs.

“The impulse to create is ancient.  I feel goosebumps when I picture that somewhere back in the days of early humans, someone reached down and pulled up a handful of mud and started shaping it – and something arose in this artist’s hands and mind that had never existed before. I like feeling I’m a part of this continuum. This passion to create has been my unfolding adventure in life.”

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Elizabeth has a wonderful collection of sculpture at Maine Art Paintings and Sculpture in Kennebunk. She is always bringing in new work, and we encourage you to visit, as well check out her Artist Page on our website. Our January hours are Friday – Sunday, from 10-5.  Please feel free to call with any questions 207- 967-2803.

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