Message in a Bottle Series
My father was a letter writer. It appears he came by his letter-writing naturally – something I didn’t know until I discovered a box containing a hundred letters from his father to my grandmother. These letters were penned on delicate papers used by the U.S. Expeditionary Forces during WW1 when my grandfather was a soldier. He eventually died young, at 46 years old, so we never met.
I began incorporating fragments of these family letters into my mixed media work. One day I noticed a bottle shape appear on a painting, without any intent on my part. Serendipitously my father’s handwriting seemed to pop out right where a bottle’s label might ordinarily be. I felt goose bumps, followed by the thought, “it’s like a message from my dad through time and space.”
And then I thought, “Oh! It’s a message in a bottle!”
And so began a series in which the bottle image serves as a visual metaphor – a container to store, transport and deliver hidden messages and ideas. This journey of discovery and connection – both artistic and personal— has been surprising, poignant and fun. My passion for beauty is taking a deeply personal form in which I explore the nature of self and lineage, as well as themes of isolation, connection and love that are recurrent in my father’s and grandfather’s letters. I try to work spontaneously, with gestural strokes and marks, and my usual love of color. Each has many layers of acrylic, graphite, crayon, my own hand-painted fabrics, paper, and found objects, along with family letters, postcards and photos.
Take Me Out of the Blue
Inspired by the letters of my young grandfather A.C. Brook to his “sweetheart” Goldie (my grandmother) while he was a soldier in WWI. These letters opened a portal for me onto moments in the life of someone whom I never met (he died before I was born) yet now carry with me in spirit. The loneliness of war, its terrifying implications, are given expression in these letters in part by a desperation for correspondence back from my grandmother. He would often beg her for letters, would share his tally of days since last receiving one, and would even blame the post office when that tally grew too long. The drip of time and the weight of mortality were quite clearly on his mind, and hearing from his “wifey” seems the only thing that could save him from his state.
Inspired by the poetic, poignant, and powerful expression of disconnection and isolation of a soldier, but also one felt by so many whether in times of war, a global pandemic, or simply everyday life. Yet, he also talked about holding joy in his heart for the day they would reconnect. I try to reflect both the hope and “the Blue” of longing.
— ellen brook
My father was a letter writer. It appears he came by his letter-writing naturally – something I didn’t know until I discovered a box containing a hundred letters from his father to my grandmother. These letters were penned on delicate papers used by the U.S. Expeditionary Forces during WW1 when my grandfather was a soldier. He eventually died young, at 46 years old, so we never met.
I began incorporating fragments of these family letters into my mixed media work. One day I noticed a bottle shape appear on a painting, without any intent on my part. Serendipitously my father’s handwriting seemed to pop out right where a bottle’s label might ordinarily be. I felt goose bumps, followed by the thought, “it’s like a message from my dad through time and space.”
And then I thought, “Oh! It’s a message in a bottle!”
And so began a series in which the bottle image serves as a visual metaphor – a container to store, transport and deliver hidden messages and ideas. This journey of discovery and connection – both artistic and personal— has been surprising, poignant and fun. My passion for beauty is taking a deeply personal form in which I explore the nature of self and lineage, as well as themes of isolation, connection and love that are recurrent in my father’s and grandfather’s letters. I try to work spontaneously, with gestural strokes and marks, and my usual love of color. Each has many layers of acrylic, graphite, crayon, my own hand-painted fabrics, paper, and found objects, along with family letters, postcards and photos.
Inspired by the letters of my young grandfather A.C. Brook to his “sweetheart” Goldie (my grandmother) while he was a soldier in WWI. These letters opened a portal for me onto moments in the life of someone whom I never met (he died before I was born) yet now carry with me in spirit. The loneliness of war, its terrifying implications, are given expression in these letters in part by a desperation for correspondence back from my grandmother. He would often beg her for letters, would share his tally of days since last receiving one, and would even blame the post office when that tally grew too long. The drip of time and the weight of mortality were quite clearly on his mind, and hearing from his “wifey” seems the only thing that could save him from his state.
Inspired by the poetic, poignant, and powerful expression of disconnection and isolation of a soldier, but also one felt by so many whether in times of war, a global pandemic, or simply everyday life. Yet, he also talked about holding joy in his heart for the day they would reconnect. I try to reflect both the hope and “the Blue” of longing.
— ellen brook