BARBARA ELLIS

Interview

Edie Carpenter spoke to Barbara Ellis about the creation of Re-entry I

EC:  Analogies to music are often made when speaking about abstraction.  Can you speak about the influence of music in your work? 

BE:  I’ve resided in Charlotte, NC since 2004. However, my roots stem from five generations of native New Yorkers on my mother's side.  Harlem was home.  Our family was steeped in the rich Jazz and African-American cultural traditions of that city.  My great-grandfather was a jazz (ragtime and stride) pianist and composer, and owned a popular Harlem night club during the 1940s. Jazz not only significantly influenced the African American New York community. Progressive artists such as The New School of abstract expressionists, were also inspired by The Music. This expansive energy significantly impacted my formative years through the 1960s.


EC: Can you speak about recent changes in your work?

BE: Two years into my full-time practice, the Women in Abstract Expressionism show came to Charlotte’s Mint Museum.  I was blown away!  It became clear that inside of this amazing creative process that channels emotional states was my opportunity to experience a freedom that had eluded me for decades. My most recent works, Clarity and Certainty (2020) – reflect a shift in my process that began in late 2019:  where gestural output has become rooted in preconceived Ideas (as opposed to entirely visceral), and are exhibited with a descriptive musing. Clarity sometimes hits you like a bolt of lightning, but here it develops gradually. Certainty... a bit more solid - less space, more forms and lines, the darks are a bit darker, more supportive. The suggestion: when your faith is certain it is Unshakable.