American Folk Art Presents “Memoirs”
Born and raised in New York City, Ellie Ali says she was influenced by the art, literary, and music worlds of the 1950s and 1960s, and by traveling and painting through Africa, India, and Europe.
An exhibit of her works will be on display at American Folk Art August 4–24, with an opening reception from 5–8 p.m. on Friday, August 5. (An online sale begins Tuesday, August 2.) This collection of paintings, created from the mid-1990s to present, is titled “Memoirs” and represents a visual journey of her life that is both evocative and mysterious.
Several years ago, Betsey- Rose Weiss, owner of American Folk Art, met Ellie. “I was captured, and went about the task of representing her. It took me ten years to make that representation a reality.” The artist, says Betsey-Rose, was entering her late sixties and had decided it was time to seek out gallery representation.
Using Chinese ink, tempera, oil pastels, acrylics, wax, and graphite on the finest papers from around the world, Ellie paints with minimal strokes, often layered over geometric fields of color, to create images bursting with motion and emotion. She sometimes washes a painting under running water and dries it before continuing to work on it, a step in the process she says helps yield rich textures.
“I believe man has always made beautiful things with his hands… because it uses aspects of the mind and soul that are part of a continuum from the ancients into the infinite future,” says Ellie. “I hope to continue on that path because it gives me pleasure and because I know that I am part of the optimism of humanity.”
American Folk Art & Framing is located at 64 Biltmore Avenue in downtown Asheville. For more information, visit amerifolk.com, email folkart@amerifolk.com, or call 828.281.2134.
