The East Arkansas Community College Fine Arts Center Gallery will host an exhibition of paintings by Arkansas artist, Ellen Alderson from October 3 – October 31
September 26, 2011
East Arkansas Community College-Forrest City
Press Release-Photo Attached
The East Arkansas Community College Fine Arts Center Gallery will host an exhibition of paintings by Arkansas artist, Ellen Alderson from October 3 – October 31. The show is titled Eclectic Collection and will feature a number of works depicting scenes of the Arkansas Delta from her series Front Porch Memories.
Alderson, a resident Forrest City, graduated with a Masters of Art degree from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Her work has been featured at the Palmer Gallery in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
One of her paintings was chosen for the 2009 Arkansas Artist Engagement Calendar Competition which is sponsored by the Arkansas Governor's Mansion Association. In 2007, she won ‘Best of Show’ at the 22nd Annual Helena National Bank Watercolor Art Show in Helena, Arkansas. She has also been chosen to exhibit her work for several years at the Mustard Tree Arts Festival in Little Rock and the Crittenden Regional Art Show in West Memphis. Alderson’s work was recently chosen for the Louisiana State University, Animals in Art show and the Arts in the Air exhibit sponsored by the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Mt. Petit Jean in Arkansas.
“In my art series “Front Porch Memories”, the use of arbitrary colors in the tenant houses and background play whimsically against the more realistic rendering of women, said Alderson. “I wanted to pay tribute to those women past and present. I believe that the generations of today can learn a lesson from these women. Their strength, wisdom, and dignity of character held their families together.”
“Tenant houses have always been interesting to me,” said Alderson. “About three years ago, I began taking photographs of local tenant houses. I wanted to preserve these vanishing icons of the Delta through my art. I began a series of paintings called, “Light in the Delta”. I didn’t want to depict the tenant houses in the usual way. Most art that I saw portrayed these tenant houses in a very realistic style. I wanted to depart from that style completely. My houses ‘rock and roll’ and come alive with bright colors and fanciful shapes,” said Alderson.
She is a life-long resident of eastern Arkansas, has taught adult and children’s classes at East Arkansas Community College for over twenty-two years. For more information about Alderson’s work visit her website at www.aldersonart.com.
Daily hours for the Fine Arts Center Gallery are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. or as scheduled for special group tours. There is no charge for admission. For more information call 870-633-4480 or visit our website at www.eacc.edu.
Photo Attached: ‘Hot Cotton Blues’ by Ellen Alderson