Ellen Lindner: Art & Creativity

Imagine grouping art quilters, doll makers, painters, and potters, and then asking them to collaborate on new art pieces.  This is exactly what happened with an exhibit called Collaborations, and it was exciting to see!  The exhibit was on display for two days, in Melbourne, FL, and was free to all.   

One of the things that made it so special was the way the groups displayed their work.  Each group had a space to create a vignette.  The idea was to showcase the art, but to also explain the concept behind it. 

This is how my group’s vignette looked, as we were still arranging it.  The quilt at far left was made by Lynn Greenberg.  The central painting was created by Renee Decator.  And my quilt, Blossoms Overhead, is shown at right.  (Thankfully, we eventually got it to hang much straighter.)

Our inspiration was the garden area of a local florist, Eau Gallie Florist.   (You can see some photos here.)  The owner, Link Johnsten, was super generous in allowing us to borrow many items for our display.  Do you see those two tall sculptures on the right?  If you click on the image, you’ll see that Renee has painted them into her piece.  Wasn’t that nice of Link to loan us exactly the items that inspired us? 

I think you’ll definitely want to click on some of these images, to bring them up as larger views.

This picture shows the vignette right next to ours.  I thought it was lovely.  The theme was “Back to Nature,” (or something close to that.)

Carmen Beecher created the two paintings.  Great colors and contrasts.

Peggy Strauchman found inspiration in Carmen’s paintings.  She really used value contrast to accentuate the focal point.  And the irregular shape is very intriguing.

Greta Bitting paper pieced a lovely Bird of Paradise.  I like the way the leaves “escape” into the border near the bottom.

Don’t you think this is an interesting concept?  I think it was very successful. 

There are a ton more vignettes for me to show you.  I’ll get to those in the coming days.

Have you ever collaborated with another artist?  If so, what was your experience?

Ellen Lindner