Elizabeth Ostrander

My work has always been influenced by the possibility of transformation. Creating something new and hopeful by merging natural forms with imagination. Art, for me, feels like a personal conversation between humankind, nature, and spirit; and that when I’m lucky, allows me to "open" and experience more. I believe in the transformational mystery. Both gentleness and strength inhabit my sculptures. Their quiet joy is a hooray for life. It can be a reminder that we can all meet in that wisdom place. And sculpture also invites touch and the soothing experience of graceful shape and the nuance of texture. I build my ceramic sculptures by using coil and slab techniques which makes them hollow inside. I use an electric kiln to vitrify the clay. The sculpture’s unique surfaces are created by applying layer-a-upon-layer of acrylic paint glaze. This accumulation of multi-layered translucent color gives depth and luminosity and makes them appear more life like to me. In my two-dimensional work this is also my approach, employing layering and over painting that often includes collage. Again, for me this technique most closely expresses my experience of life with all its accumulation, mystery, and emotion. From my New York roots of more than thirty years ago to my rural life in coastal Maine, I am amazed at the unique art life that has unfolded before me. And today, as I pursue my work as an artist I feel that art has become my life’s journey.