Ellen Elmes - Earthweave

Earthweave is a triptych, or three-panel painting, owned by Cynthia and Ken Anselmi. It is a culmination of a repeated theme in my work, that of humankind being embodied by the rhythms and cycles of nature. The first panel represents not only the season of spring and its rebirth symbology, but also the season of mankind in its beginning stages of existence, when the use of one’s hands was so important to survival. In the second panel representing the autumn season, a time I perceive as one of upheaval, change and death, the human figures are now armless and helter-skelter among animals formerly hunted for sustenance – representing the coming of industry, store-bought goods, and the manufacturing of war machinery, all removing humans from the sources of their physical and spiritual sustainment. In the last panel of winter symbology, I represent my perception of this season as one of reflection. Here the human is depicted as only a head because of society’s increasing move to function through our brains and our synthetic brains (computers) in the collection and utilization of information. The yin/yang symbol is centered in this panel as a plea for balance that might emerge from reflection. Perhaps the balance of thinking with hands-on doing, of aggression (born out of a need to express physical power) with non-violent action, of individual growth with community justice might someday be the next swing of the human pendulum, and the new life symbolized at the end of this painting in the form of a nested euglena (an early life form) might become another spring of civilization.

Earthweave watercolor

Earthweave
watercolor