Filed under: Durango events | Tags: art, book art, environmental art, paper making, sculpture
"The idea is that you can use the stacks for a cup of tea, a candle, and a vase of flowers...then the grouping of stacks becomes 'furniture'!" writes Mary Ellen Long about her piece in this year's Furniture as Art fundraiser.
Mary Ellen Long has a delicate earthy aesthetic that carries through no matter if she’s making a handmade art book, a collage, an installation, one of her gorgeous winter pressings (handmade paper she lays outside and lets soak up the earth and patterns from the snow that falls on top of it), or a piece of sculptural furniture for KDUR’s annual Furniture as Art, a fundraiser and auction happening at 6 p.m. this Thursday, March 19, at the Durango Art Center.
Mary Ellen Long. Photo by Kinsee Morlan.
Officially, Long could be classified as an environmental, mixed-media artist. But unofficially, she’s a finder, a collector, a seer of natural beauty and an artist when it comes time to put all those things together.
Who knew the texture of paper mixed with earth, leaves and sticks could be so perfectly balanced and beautiful? Who knew pressing paper around an Aspen tree would result in such a stunning sculptural work of art?
Long has figured out a thing or two over the span of her decades-long career. And with the natural beauty of Durango as her home, plus her frequent travels around the world, she’s still learning things from the environment around her and communicating those new concepts through her ever-changing works of art.
Long in her Durango home studio.
Seeing the Forest for the Trees, a documentary by Durango Community Access TV, is an excellent look at Long’s work and career. In the short video below, we give you a quick tour through Long’s house and studio (the low-lit video doesn’t do proper justice to her work) while the artist talks about her art, a recent trip to Japan, her new book sculpture in the Furniture as Art event and more.
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