Ellery Ekleberry

MFA 2023 Artists

Ellery Ekleberry

UMass Dartmouth 2023 MFA Thesis Exhibition

About Ellery Ekleberry

Ellery Ekleberry is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Massachusetts with a focus on using tactile mediums empathetically. Her work revolves around an exploration of hard (ceramic, steel, wood) and soft (clay, stuffed, upholstered) materials with an interest in studying the interactions between them. Displaying her work primarily as installations full of vivid color and bright patterns, Ekleberry responds to physical space and creates other-worldly atmospheres inspired by a desire to understand empathy. Ekleberry received her BFA in Studio Art from Albion College in 2018 and a Post-Bac Certificate in Ceramics from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2020. She has received multiple community-based awards and she presently has works on display in Boulder, CO, Ann Arbor, MI and Duxbury, MA.

Statement

Utilizing bold patterns and vivid colors, I create spaces that are a call for empathy, an undeniable cry for compassion and softness towards the human experience. Enigmatic forms showcase these tender moments of supporting one another, allowing the viewer to imagine themselves as any one of the forms within the created environments. A range of hard and soft materials are used in all of the installation moments as a way of exploring each element’s need to accommodate or be accommodated.

Traditional women’s crafts were taught to me as a child as a means of creating empathetic objects. Stuffed animals to comfort children, a knit scarf for warmth in the winter, the ability to mend a favorite sweater… I am now claiming this feminine way of making and translating it into masculine materials like ceramics, steel and woodworking, all while continuing to sew, tailor and design elements that add visual and tactile depth. Empathy is necessary in order to provide and receive support. It is required of us in order to navigate through a space, being at least loosely aware of an object’s ability to accommodate. This body of work provides a space for the viewer to reflect on the ways empathy has affected their own lives, allowing them to question the ways they interact with empathy and how freely they let themselves feel and receive empathetic actions. I want to give a quiet moment to those who are empathetic enough to receive it, allowing them to be seen within my work as either one of the supporting objects, one of the objects being supported, or as the device used to facilitate their interaction.