Tseka - One dance

Simple thanks

Ellen — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:09:13 +0000

Wneewa is a Mahegin word. Simply translated it means, “I thank you.” The Mahegins are part of my Algonquin ancestors who I connect to through my mother and our Grandmothers. The Mahegins have mostly returned to dust and their language is almost forgotten, so, it pleases me to offer wneewa to the winds today, in gratitude. Wneewa is a “thought word” which conveys a sense of All that is NOT me; the Whole that contains You. You/I merge with thanks in a single thought; wneewa. This fills me with such satisfaction. Sometimes I imagine a world that my ancestors took for granted where in thanks we are inseparable. Could it be so simple?

Arts Alive

Ellen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:33:31 +0000

This year we honor Raven

Arts Alive is an annual celebration of the arts and of artists. The whole town of La Conner participates. Artists come to demonstrate their craft.

I will be at Earthenworks Gallery, 713 First Street, La Conner, Washington, on November 8 from Noon to 4:00 pm.

Growing up on a Salish reservation, Raven was a prominent character in the stories of my youth. It was some years later that I stumbled onto the stories of my aboriginal Swedish ancestors. Remarkably the stories are very similar.

The town of La Conner is adjacent to the Swinomish Reservation so I will leave the telling of NW Coast stories in their able hands. What I will be sharing are stories of White Raven who flies in the skies around my home, and how in ancient time she rode on the left shoulder of Hel before the land went behind the ice. The myths say she is the harbinger of the new age when man will once again walk the path of harmony and beauty.

On Sunday November 8, we are unveiling my new projects at Earthenworks; Talismans of porcelain and stones joined with porcelain. These objects with the symbols of the past for healing, creativity and wholeness, have grown out of my interest in the myths and stories of my ancestors and are meant to be worn or set in a special spot.

There will be paintings too, of course.

In the “time outside of time” the treewomen were in a union with Raven.

And the Eldi, the Scandinavian Tree Women protected the light through the darkness.

White Raven & the Tree of Life: Porcelain & stone

Talismans and stones

Heaven’s Door : 20″ x 20″ framed Watercolour / Lacquer on paper, collage elements

Eldi : 44″ 41″ framed, Watercolour / Lacquer on paper, collage elements

click any image to enlarge

Open Studio

Ellen — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:32:24 +0000

The artists of Joshua Tree once again throw open the doors to their studios and welcome the public. Over the years the event has mushroomed into something huge. The valley’s towns are filled with events; music, live theater and more, nearly everyone participates.
This year two friends, exceptional artists, join me at my studio for both weekends. It’s bound to be fun. I hope some of you find your feet pointed in our direction.

~~~
October 24- October 25

October 31- November 1

Ellen Hill Painting & Porcelain Jewelry

Ellie Tyler Photography

Virginia Louise Akin (aka Dali Mama) Original Textiles and Design

Maps are available locally. My studio is very close to the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. Other inquiries? Leave a comment. Click any image to enlarge.

Wneewa, thanks from my heart

Ellen — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:32:33 +0000

Friends, food, paintings poetry…
Images from the Opening last Sunday.

Recordings of Ancient Winds

Ellen — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:40:25 +0000

29 Palms Gallery

September 30 - October 26

Artist’s reception October 4 Noon - 3PM

What endures

what is blown away

becomes the Shape of time

Long lines of poetry

etched in pale canyons

twisting in the shadow walls

……………echo………..echo

Voices in the Rock

watercolour, lacquer on paper, collage elements, 44″ x 63″

two sounds become one

Ellen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:11:12 +0000

There were languages

soft shuush shushs

lilts and low notes

Birdsong and bear voices

A merging of people

carrying several northern cultures

They unfolded precious hardanger, spread them out under the sun. They stretched hides between split alder.

Each as beautiful as the people, so different.

All embraced by firs, cedar, and the Pacific.

My childhood mind returns these sounds to me in odd moments. They seem to fall from the Ash branches or ride the back of the north wind. In a child’s mind the sounds were just people, the differences small, everything remains unsaid.

And this was the way also, all of us tuned our ears to the tsetseka wind as she boiled up into the fir tops, there was no mistaking her voice by people who live on the land, fish with the sea. Weather has her own language.

painting: Creeks Merge

watercolour, lacquer on Asian paper

11.5 x 11.5 inches (image)

*Hardanger is a Scandinavian needlecraft, threads are pulled from linen fabric and the open spaces create geometric designs turning the plain into beautiful and useful.

soft lap of the winter sea

Ellen — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:16:05 +0000

painting: The Wind Brought

watercolour, lacquer, collage elements

10 x 7 inches (image)

gift from the land

Ellen — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:51:58 +0000

Ing : Fertile, creative

Painting: Deep Fertile, 7 x 10 inches
watercolour, lacquer on paper, collage elements

a natural order

Ellen — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:46:42 +0000

RAINFOREST

Alva, Arva

Arvi, Vouvdi

Arvirvouvdi

When the feminine energy

Slips down from the clouds

Slides through the trees

Walks among the forest

alva, arva : energy, arvi : rain, vouvdi : forest

arvivouvdi : rainforest

sami

Painting : Warm Frangrance

watercoulour, mixed media, collage elements

6.5 x 5 inches, from the small magic series

neap tide of the heart

Ellen — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:12:50 +0000

Silver on a weakened sea,
breaking apart, recombining, running sinuous in the troughs of a Neap tide

Neap : Neep (old English) weakened water, a time when the tides are in balance, between the full and new moons, when the gravitational pull is weakest.

Fishermen go out with longlines on the neap tide, and in the balanced pull find the treasures of the deep.

We are currently between eclipses. Eclipses often coincide with surprising leaps in our evolution. During an eclipse the light is weakened, a neap tide of a different nature perhaps, when balanced pulls of longlines of the heart carry the treasures of the deep to the surface.

NEAP TIDE

watercolour, collage elements,

14.25 x 14.25 inches (image)

with thanks to a fisher-king