“I want my sculptures to hold space, to produce the feeling of connection with the mythical and the mystical within and to create bridges to new possibilities,” shares Elizabeth Ostrander Roberts, the only sculptor of the thirteen artists in the 8th Annual Choice Art Show on Maine Art Hill.
For Ostrander, art stirs a renewed aliveness. It sparks curiosity and transports to new places where imaginative possibilities open. It is a gift. A gift she needs to put back out and into the world.
“For me, clay is magical. It feels alive and is so responsive to my hand. I also need to be sensitive to clay’s personality too, as its physical capability changes in variations of air and moisture.” says Ostrander. “We ‘talk.’ It’s a partnership. On my part, it’s also love. Whether I’m happy or sad, clay always feels right.”
After her clay piece is vitrified, made solid in the kiln, Ostrander chooses to add color with acrylic. Painting her sculptures as if they were canvases.
“Color too is transformative magic and brings out the sculptures personalities. Sometimes I collage or stencil or join my clay sculptures to found objects of metal or wood,” explains Ostrander. “This gives my clay sculptures a larger juxtaposing story. When I choose such serendipitously found objects to add with a clay sculpture, it “speaks” to me and tells me that it wants a larger story. It’s not yet done with being important.”
When she joins her clay sculptures with metal, it gives them a more tenuous personality reflecting, to her, a love/hate relationships to our inventions. With wood, they share more of a compatible natural essence.
“Living in Maine near both forests and the shifting tides of the sea, my life feels like a free-flowing mythical, magical journey,” says Ostrander. “Wanting to imbue my sculptures with my own exploratory narratives, I always hope others might use them as bridges to their personal mythical, magical possibilities of renewed aliveness.”
Ostrander has three works at Shows on Maine Art Hill for the 8th Annual Choice Art Show. The Choice Show can be seen every day from 10 am to 5 pm at the 10 Chase Hill Road address, as well as online at The 8th Annual Choice Art Show.
To learn more about this artist follow the links below