Elizabeth
Ellison can name the exact year that her art transformed from
less inspired urban architecture motifs into soft, serene
and vibrant watercolor depictions of the Smoky Mountains and its
natural elements. In 1976, Ellison and her husband,
writer and naturalist George Ellison, made a 30-acre mountain
cove in Swain County, N.C., their home.
With mountains surrounding their house on
three sides and a river bustling with birds framing the fourth,
the Ellisons can look out any window and draw inspiration.
The more than 30-year love affair the
couple share with mountains culminated in a best-selling book,
Blue Ridge Nature Journal: Reflections on the Appalachians in
Essays and Art, which was named a finalist for the Southern Independent Booksellers
Alliance's 2007 Book of the Year
Award.
The same year Elizabeth Ellison moved to
her Appalachian home, she discovered the process that would bring life to
her work. A 1976 paperback edition of The Way of Chinese
Painting encouraged an empathetic relationship between the
artist and her subject. Although her work shows traces of an
abstract Oriental style, it was the philosophy of the book that
influenced her art more than any particular technique. Those who
adore Ellison's work cite the emotion they see in her paintings.
She believes that what they sense is her humble gratitude for
the landscape of her home.
Consumers and critics of her art, as
well as the artist herself, also acknowledge Native American
influence in her work. Ellison's mother claimed
Native American heritage in their blood. Growing up on a farm in
Milton, N.C., and spending most of her time outdoors, Ellison's love
of the land made her believe her mother was right. Research has
revealed that Ellison is of Occaneechi Indian decent. Yet, the spirit of the Native American connectivity to the land
is what
she embraces in her art.
Ellison's appreciation of her subject, the
mountain landscape and the creatures who dwell there, grew
because of the couple's deliberate decision to forgo electricity
and other modern amenities in their home in the Smokies. Ellison
remembered a winter, abnormally cold for the region, where
temperatures dropped far below zero. "If we hadn't worked to get
wood… well, nobody was going to do it for us," she said.
Working for heat, food and necessities that most people take
for granted enriched the life of the artist,
and that carried over into Ellison's art. She said she doesn't just paint the
elements of her home, but uses them in the paper she paints on.
She creates the paper from plants native to the Appalachian
mountains, such as yucca, raspberries, black willow and
mulberry, and adds it in collages upon her canvas. This gives
her art
layers of different textures and allows Ellison
more involvement in the process.
"I like to think I am participating in
life," Ellison explained, "not just living it."
Ellen Anderson is assistant editor and chief
designer of New Southerner.
