Empty Nest, by Elloise Schoettler, Digital Print

Graduation Day, by Lucy Blankstein, Digital Print.

Lucy Blankstein and Ellouise Schoettler share a longtime interest in exploring the terrain of family memories in their artworks. They use varied media to translate the continuing revelations of personal explorations into visual form. Lucy Blankstein: My grandparents had a closet with a cedar trunk filled to the brim with photographs. I have often used one of those pictures for experiments with different materials. Through the interchange of gouache, monoprints, and digital prints, I am able to re-examine this riviting image and infuse it with my emotional stamp. Ellouise Schoettler: I learned to love color and pattern from the crazy quilt on my grandmother's bed. My aesthetic concerns are color, light, and texture. In my work I celebrate the women in my family who taught me to work with the materials at hand, to trust that the cake will rise, and to tell my story. Ellouise Schoettler is a visual artist and storyteller who exhibits her artwork and performs her stories nationally.