Featured in MCPA's 2014 "Doorways to the Underworld" exhibit, Ellie Bryan returns as a guest artist for "Modern Pagans/Ancient Realms" with her haunting "Owl Spirit Platters".
She was recently awarded the inaugural Jerome Ceramic Artist of Color Residency at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, to begin September 1st, 2016. (More details here.)
As a ceramic artist and potter, I strive to create pieces that unite the human spirit with the animal world. I believe that the animals around us have stories to tell us; they are messengers and harbingers of the old and new. As spiritual beings, animals have a connection with the earth that we once held, but must now struggle to rekindle. I strive to tell these stories and traditions by creating objects that embody these messages and mythology, and forge a unity between creature and human that is so often lost.
I use porcelain vessels as the surface for my sgraffito drawings. Ceramic vessels, as objects that can harbor life (as vases), spirits (as urns), and give sustenance to their holder (through food and drink) are ancient and traditional objects. I reference these traditions through use of pagan symbolism and ritual, and using ceramics as the medium allows me to create objects that people can readily welcome into their daily lives.
I use traditional crafters' techniques to create my ceramic pieces, but hope to engage the viewers as they interpret the ritualistic display of the work that references ritual and altars. Using these means to display and present my work, I strive to create an atmosphere that unites humans once again with our own history, spirituality, and animal counterparts.
