When an artist opens her email with “What a long strange trip it’s been,” you know she has been to her fair share of Grateful Dead shows. You also know she has a lovely sense of humor and the ability to handle just about anything life throws at her.
With that said, artist Ellen Welch Granter has had one heck of a year. Since her summer show last year, she and her husband made a big move.
“We left our house and my studio near Boston, where we lived and worked for twenty-nine years. It is a welcome change to be living a very different life,” Granter explains. “Less Fenway Park noise and student keg parties at night, and more crickets chirping and owls hooting!”
This change has brought a sense of peace and light into this year’s works.
“I have been working diligently in my wonderful new studio space. COVID-19 restrictions have not altered the long hours alone in the studio for this artist,” shares Granter. “I am excited to show this new body of work, which celebrates two distinct strands, birds and buoys.”
The first series is of egrets in the marsh. This stunning bird gathers in “skewers,” which is the collective noun for a grouping of egrets. Who knew?
“I love their pure white forms against the grasses and pools,” says Granter. “I also am transfixed by their leggy, slow, elegant motions as they hunt in the tidal shallows. Their beauty is a constant attraction and a joy to behold.”
The buoys are more complicated. Their straight-up simple shape requires a more abstract mentality, and a bit more zen to contemplate.
“These neon-bright moorings provide such a cool contrast to the foggy coastal air and seas. I love how they glow,” explains Granter. “They are as close to putting down roots as a lot of ocean-going people get. The mooring is home, a safe harbor, a lovely idea during tumultuous times.”
Living here on the coast, these strands are both parts of the everyday view, so maybe they are not so much distinct, more like a kind of visual social distancing.
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ELLEN GRANTER, BETHANY HARPER WILLIAMS AND TRIP PARK – A SUMMER SHOW 2020