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Ellen’s Work Blog

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Ellen’s Work Blog
December 2022

I am starting to feel the holidays in the air as I work to finish assembling a couple projects for the Ramp Gallery that have been in process for the past eight weeks.

There are times when I pull out some of the collaborative project pieces that have been stored away for ten or more years and I just sigh. What was I thinking when I asked kids at HealthCorps fairs to paint these small tongue depressors, all in the spirit of emphasizing healthy diet and exercise in their lives? Hot gluing thousands of these can get repetitive, but then I run into a bunch that are tiny masterpieces. I marvel at the high level of creativity reached by so many of these kids, making full-blown paintings on a ½” x 6” piece of balsa wood. And now these kids are in their teens or 20s and probably doing amazing things in their young adult lives to benefit others. I hope they have not lost their exuberance and zest for life. This is a time for rebuilding and we need all that energy.

It reminds me that there are many things that are so positive and hopeful. They are all around us if we just take the time to look.

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Ellen’s Work Blog

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Ellen’s Work Blog
November 2022

I decided last month that it was time to pull out all the giant mailing crates of watches donated by women across the country, who are members of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC). This project pays tribute to the work these women do as volunteers in hospitals, community gardens, and fundraising events in their communities, all to help others in need. When we started collecting watches many years ago, I pictured several hundred watches all pulled together—a terrific visual statement about the hours these women spend helping others. I felt I had a handle on the assembly part of the project. But these women were not kidding around. I am now looking at what appears to be more like 10,000 watches. No matter the method, I know there are many hours ahead to bring all of these together into one giant assembly.

My other project of the month has involved a similar amassing of small objects—in this case tongue depressors painted by kids at health fairs in California, Arizona, and six states in the Midwest and New England. I loved the metaphor for better health and fitness, proper exercise and diet. What blew me away was the artwork these kids managed to create on a piece of wood slightly larger than a popsicle stick. Now it’s in my court—how to bring all of these together and display them in the Ramp Gallery in a way that gives justice to their efforts. 

In both of these projects, there is obviously a built-in tedious component. But there is also a big challenge. In the final execution, both pieces need to properly give credit to thousands of people: kids who are thinking about living healthier lives and are acting on it, and the GFWC women who are thinking about helping others and are spending hours of their own time doing it.

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Art at Work: Education

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Art at Work: Education
October 30, 2022

Last week we welcomed sixth-grade students from Canton Intermediate School, who created a "Big Idea" architectural project—their personal dream of work. They also collaborated outside to design pieces they would like to see in our kid-designed and -built nature playground, thinking about what they would need to build it, who it would impact, who they'd need to help, and how they'd get started.

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In the Studio

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In the Studio
October 15, 2022

Ellen's latest project—and a super tedious one at that! She's assembling thousands of tongue depressors to create a giant sculpture that will be installed in the Ramp Gallery. You read that right! More than 4,000 tongue depressors have been painted and decorated to date, done in collaboration with HealthCorps, an organization working to eliminate health inequity and improve lives by educating and empowering teens.

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Ellen’s Work Blog

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Ellen’s Work Blog
October 2022

Last month was packed with preparation for our Gala as well as a visit from Brenda Eheart, Carolyn Casteel, and Jeanette Laws, my friends from Hope Meadows, a very special foster-care community in Rantoul, Illinois, where we did an AMP collaborative project in 2005. At Hope, everyone in the community spent four days running around making wax rubbings of everything significant to them—from license plates and brooms to basketball shoes and flip flops. All of these impressions will be part of the Illinois collaborative project in the Ramp Gallery exhibit to open next year. 

It would be an understatement to say that the performance we heard at the Gala was memorable. The combined artistic talents of all the musicians, soloists, and chorus resulted in a perfect AMP collaboration. It was a thrill to be in the space and hear the magic happen, from the first trumpet call to the last notes of Sandy Boynton’s original composition, Amplify. 

Both of these big moments in September reminded me of the excitement we all get when we are doing something special together in perfect harmony.

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Building Up and Raising Funds

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Building Up and Raising Funds
September 19, 2022

Saturday was the perfect day for our annual Art of Work Gala! Guests were absolutely blown away by the music and the acoustics in the mural building. Delicious food and drinks, amazing friends and supporters. And we're so grateful to be experiencing the mural from all three levels. If you missed it this year, we hope you can join us next September!

See photos here.

Many thanks to the generous support from our Gala sponsors: Scope Construction Company, Kaman Corporation, Northwest Community Bank, Hartford HealthCare, and R&M Insulation, with additional support from Elyse Harney Real Estate.

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Ellen’s Work Blog

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Ellen’s Work Blog
September 2022

All summer long there has been nonstop action at AMP. All the kids’ programs came to an end in the first weeks of August, which usually silences the place. This year, we are welcoming visitors Friday–Sunday every weekend, and the general hum and laughter continues. On the few days I have been in the mural building during visiting hours, I have had an absolute blast meeting adults and kids, answering their questions, and asking them for their thoughts on ways to make the experience more fun.

Abigail and Ben, our visitor services staff, together with our amazing volunteers, have been phenomenal. They are all over the place, up and down the three levels assisting visitors. They seem to know far more about the mural than I do.

And now, here comes the Art of Work Gala on Saturday, September 17. I was lucky enough to attend many of the rehearsals, and hearing Chorus Angelicus in our giant brick and steel cathedral is so moving. We are also going to hear the special piece Sandra Boynton wrote and Mike Ford arranged expressly for AMP.

Hope you have your tickets. This one is going to be memorable.

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