Today many of our favorite weather prognosticators promised an early spring. They didn’t see their shadows. Time will tell if they are right or wrong. Statistics show that Punxsutawney Phil is correct only 39 percent of the time.
visual artist
Snow on Virginia Woolf's Birthday
Our January snow melted overnight. Yet its image comes clearly to mind as I remember that January 25 is Virginia Woolf’s birthday. She wrote about snow a number of times and I think often of this passage from “The Years.” “the Years” (1937) was the last novel she published in her lifetime.
"It was January. Snow was falling. Snow had fallen all day. The sky spread like a grey goose’s wing from which feathers were falling all over England. The sky was nothing but a flurry of falling flakes. Lanes were levelled; hollows filled; the snow clogged the streams; obscured windows, and lay wedged against doors. There was a faint murmur in the air, a slight crepitation, as if the air itself were were turning to snow; otherwise all was silent, save when a sheep coughed, snow flopped from a branch, or slipped in an avalanche down some roof in London. Now and again a shaft of light spread slowly across the sky as a car drove through the muffled roads. But as the night wore on, snow covered the wheel ruts; softened to nothingness the marks of the traffic, and coated monuments, palaces and statues with a thick vestment of snow.”
Happy Groundhog's Day 2023
There athis yearre conflicting reports from our rodent weather prognosticators this year. Some saw their shadow and others did not. We’ll place our bets with Punxsutawney Phil who’s right about 80% of the time.
I’m not Phil!
See my shadow? That means six more weeks of winter. Groundhogs are smart andther thrive in all sorts of weather. We don’t worry about driving conditions.
Happy Groundhog’s Day once again!
Hail to the Whale on Poem in Your Pocket Day
April is National Poetry Month and Friday, April 29th, is Poemin Your Pocket Day. Today is a day to share a poem you love with friends, family, co-Aworkers and new acquaintances. This year I’ve chosen a poem by American poet Kimiko Hahn.
Groundhog Day 2022
Everyone awaits the emergence of the groundhog today in the hope that an early spring will be predicted. Unfortunately our furry little friend doesn’t have a great track record in terms of forecasting the next six weeks of weather. He (or she) is right just about fifty percent of the time. There is one thing though that the groundhog always gets right. The hours of daylight are lengthening in the northern hemisphere as earth tilts on its axis and we move toward spring’s vernal equinox.
An artist had fun imagining the groundhog in its winter burrow.
Now here’s the groundhog in a summer landscape.
Groundhog in summer
The Magi Depart
The celebration of the Feast of Epiphany seems to be changing all the time. I still observe it as falling on January 6th and today, January 13th is Octave of Epiphany. Traditionally this marked the very end of the Christmas season (except for those who think it ends on February 2nd) and is considered the day when the Magi departed and began their journey homeward.
This charming sculpture of the dream of the three kings is carved on a column of the Romanesque Cathedral of Saint Lazare in Autun, in Burgundy. What a finely carved sculpture it is. The angel’s finger touches the hand of one of the kings and seems to awaken him. The fine detail and curvature in the bed covering and pillow add a curvature and drape that appears as delicate as fabric even though it’s stone. The wary awakened look of the king as the angel touches him suggests that he is considering the warning not to return to their country by the way they had arrived.
The Dream of the Magi. Cathedral of Saint Lazare in Autumn, Burgundy Carved between 1120 - 1135
Twenty Years On
The tangible horrors of that clear blue morning fell from the sky and remain with those who witnessed them unmediated by television and technology. We struggle to attain moral comprehension in our endless retellings of our experiences that day.
100th Birthday Remembrance of Artist Lucia Vernarelli
Take out one hundred candles and light them for the 100th birthday of artist Lucia Vernarelli. It’s the darkest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and Lucia was named for light when she was born on December 13, 1920.
Read MoreGroundhog Day 2020
Will it be a longer winter or an early spring? This year I’m only going to tell you that the hours of daylight are getting longer.
Groundhog image by WildOne at pixabay.com
Sqwimmey's at Infinite Sketch 2 - Creatures
Brooklyn Art Library will be displaying hundreds of drawings in its second Infinite Sketch project. This one called for “Creatures.” Sqwimmey is based on a larval form of a real squid. “Sqwimmey” is done in water soluble color pencil.
The Infinite Sketch exhibit can be viewed at Brooklyn Art Library from Thursday, October 24 through Monday, October 28. Hours are Thursday, Friday, and Monday from 10a.m. to 6p.m. Saturday and Sunday hours are 12p.m. to 6p.m.
Happy Groundhog's Day 2019!
It’s been bitter cold and leaves are great insulation for the burrow.
Grape Leaves of Salt Lake City
A friend brought me a gift of grape leaves after visiting her daughter and future son-in-law in Salt Lake City. This accordion book forms a bridge between receiving that gift of fresh and vibrant grape leaves and my desire to perpetuate, materialize, and share that experience of beauty with others.
It began with a perception of beauty in the leaves, apparent to my eyes, a moment that lingered in my mind even as the leaves grew limp and withered. I wanted to share that insight with others and move it from the realm of my inner thoughts into physical, three-dimensional form.
The materials of paper, cardboard, ink, paint, and the leaves themselves, form a bridge that seeks to access that beauty even after it has faded from the physical realm. It brings the viewer both backward to the original gift and forward to a new moment of apprehension. My friend’s gift of grape leaves, carried eastward from Salt Lake City to the island of Manhattan, inspired and generated this gift; it created a bridge of time, of relationship, and of enduring beauty.
This work is now on view at Our Savior’s Atonement Lutheran Church, 178 Bennett Avenue, in Washington Heights, NYC as part of their “building Bridges” art show.
Art for National Watermelon Day
August 3rd is National Watermelon Day and I've chosen a few art works, including one of my own, to mark this unofficial food holiday.
Still Life with Watermelon, Pineapple and other Fruits, oil on canvas, Albert Eckhout, Dutch painter active in 17th century Brazil
Hoosick Street The Summer Kitchen, colored pencils, strawberry sepal, acrylic interference paint
Ellen Halloran, American artist, 2018
Still Life with Watermelon, Pears, and Grapes oil on canvas, Lily Martin Spencer, American artist, 1860
Compassion and the Artist
The Winter 2018 issue of The Compassion Anthology contains my essay on compassion and the artist. This essay is my answer to the question "Do artists show compassion to themselves when they create works of art?"
Compassion and the Artist
Ellen Halloran
Compassion is defined as a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress and sorrow accompanied by a desire to relieve that suffering. It can refer to both the understanding of another’s pain and the action that stems from that feeling.
Does an artist offer compassion to herself/himself in the process of creating a work of art?
How does an artist’s work begin? We have an idea that appears in our mind, something with a life of its own that wants to be realized in the material world. We may have a feeling of apprehension. Can we fully and worthily realize this idea that wants to come forth? Avoidance brings us to a state of intellectual paralysis, to a sense of being locked inside of ourselves as the idea searches for a material existence. Some artists speak of being “blocked,” of feeling depressed. Other artists experience this as a kind of anxiety.
Movement unlocks our feeling of helplessness. We move from an idea to a finished form by simple actions—picking up a pencil, making a mark, tearing a sheet of paper, executing a brushstroke, joining surfaces together—until what was once only a thought achieves a palpable existence in the material world.
Flannery O’Connor wrote that in art the self, (the artist) becomes “self-forgetful” to facilitate the demands of the ideas that we see in our minds and the things that we actually create from those ideas. In this self-forgetfulness artists act compassionately toward themselves by keeping their ideas in motion, alleviating their own anxieties, and bringing them forward as gifts to the world in lyrical, energetic and beautiful forms.
Ellen Halloran is a visual artist working in several media. She has worked as a metalsmith, jeweler, legal proofreader, art teacher and art therapist. She developed and implemented art programs for child victims of sexual abuse, children who witnessed violence, and children recovering from traumatic events. Her work has been seen in galleries and is in many private collections.
RE-Formation Ready to Go
RE-Formation Gets A Slipcase
RE-Formation:Moon and Moth will soon be going to a new home. It will travel in a custom-made slipcase of archival quality board.
Slipcase in the process of construction
Finished slipcase for RE-Formation:Moon and Moth
RE-Formation: Moon and Moths
I think of "reformation" as change, transformation, a state of transition and even as metamorphosis.
Materials themselves provide me with ideas. The fabrics of this work inspired me as I changed disposable cardboard packaging, something that is usually tossed without a glance or hesitation, into an object to be considered with joy and wonder. I covered it with handmade papers that contain fragments of leaves and plant fibers. The pre-cut circles in the cardboard seemed like windows through which the constantly changing moon can be seen. I thought of moths seeking light at the time of the new moon and I remembered that a friend had given me some pieces of moth cocoon, traces of a very real metamorphosis.
All of the materials here have gone through changes, have been re-formed. Trees and plants and insects have been changed into a small book that I have named "RE-Formation:Moon and Moths."
Our Saviour's Atonement Church in Washington Heights , NYC is sponsoring a Reformation-themed show opening on Saturday, October 14, 2017.
Art for Aleppo Postcard Art Project Book - Art in Action
If you missed the opportunity to purchase an artist-donated postcard in the gallery show you can now purchase a book with photos of all the postcards in the show.
blurb.com/b/7898748-art-for-aleppo-postcard-art-project
Artist's names, location, and websites are included along with images of the front and back of each postcard. All proceeds from the sale of the book and donated postcards go to Save the Children Syria.
Peace in Abundance 4" X 6" collage 2017 Ellen Halloran
Artists Work to Help the Children of Aleppo, Syria
A wide array of national and international artists have donated their work to help provide aid to the children of war-torn Syria. Your donation of $25 will purchase an original work of art and 100% of the proceeds will go directly to provide Syrian children with emergency care, food, and water.
You can help by purchasing art, purchasing the catalog book of participating artists, or by making a direct donation. Go to www.artforaleppo.org
A reception and fundraiser will be held on Saturday, April 22 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm at Catalyst Gallery, 137 Main Street, Beacon, NY.
Affordable Art Sale This Weekend
WISH YOU WERE HERE 15: make a splash
A.I.R. Gallery is proud to be partnering with Interstate Projects for our 15th annual POSTCARD SHOW! This pop-up event is 3 DAYS ONLY and will feature hundreds of affordable works by artists from all over the world. All proceeds go to benefit A.I.R. programming.
"Meet You There," 4" X 6," water soluble color pencil, © Ellen Halloran
Join us for this crazy fun feminist event! Music, drinks, affordable art by your favorite artists & more! Invite your friends, family, feminists and everyone you know! It's our way of saying THANKS to all of our wonderful supporters who make A.I.R. a thriving voice in the art world.
OPENING NIGHT
Friday August 12th, 6-9pm
FINAL SALE
August 13th + 14th, 12-6pm
LOCATION
66 Knickerbocker Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11237
DIRECTIONS
L train to Morgan Av
A.I.R. GALLERY | 155 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 | info@airgallery.org | 212 255 6651 | Tues - Sun 12-6pm | directions
A.I.R. is supported in part by the New York Department of Cultural Affairs and The Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Private foundations include: The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, The Bernheim Foundation, PGS Millwork, The Scalapino O-Books Fund, The Segue Foundation, Inc., and from individual donations.