drawings

In Ellen Driscoll’s recent work, plants are drawn into allegorical tableaux that speak to environmental change and adaptation. Some of the plants in her herbarium are used for remediation of toxins in soil, such as the sunflower which is used to revive …

Continue reading “New Drawings”

New drawing and painting by Ellen Driscoll and Ken Buhler in a two person exhibition at Lesley Heller Workspace, 54 Orchard St., New York, NY, January 10-February 18

Four of these drawings were created in a month long residency in June 2017 at the Dora Maar House in Menerbes, France. The fifth was created last year and was shown at the Museo di Storia Naturale in Siena Italy as part of my show “Venti Trasversali” I continue to focus on the adaptive qualities of plants. The Menerbes drawings began to focus on plants used for phytoremediation to cleanse toxic sites.

Venti Trasversali These drawings began with an investigation into the historical process of making charcoal in Tuscany. Four indigenous trees—oak, chestnut, pine, and arbutus—are used in this ancient process. Because of its unique molecular composition, charcoal is now used globally to extract toxins—from earth, from people—as a healing corrective. In the drawings, this molecular remedy is represented by honeycomb sieves. In one drawing, the maps of countries are caught by the sieve.

This short video shows the process of drawings created at the Siena Art Institute Fall Project residency.

This new series of drawings continue the exploration begun in the “Soundings” exhibition with Margaret Cogswell at Kentler International Drawing Space. Based on “volunteer” plants in sites like the Siena train station and the medieval walls, as well as those in the Botanical Garden, the drawings explore visual oscillation between indoor and outdoor space, ideas of cross-pollination between indigenous and non-indigenous species.

This series of drawings is based on observation of the weeds and “volunteer” plants coming up through the cracks of Red Hook, Brooklyn, the urban birds–pigeons, sparrows, and starlings, and other aspects of the local visual environment—pennants at a ball field, empty signs, a satellite dish. There are also maps of present and historical Red Hook, and Shenzhen and Guangzhu, two of the largest cities in China, our biggest trading partner–because Red Hook is also a port.

This series of drawings were generated while in Rome from January 2013 – June 2013, while serving as the Chief Critic for the European Honors program of RISD.

Ellen Driscoll’s Prospectus for the Nation project consists of a content-rich website dedicated to research she did on oil and plastic production/consumption as well as documentation of the creation and installation of “Distant Mirrors” for the Providence River. She also has contributed small paintings on #2 recycled plastic that will be reproduced for the Prospectus “Box” of artist-made objects and sold individually in the future.”