ELLEN KOCHANSKY owns and designs for EKO. In rural South Carolina, she has made quilts and textile art for over 20 years. She has served as an American Canvas panelist for
the National Endowment for the Arts and as a trustee of the American Crafts Council. Her works are in many public and private institutions including the Museum of Art + Design in NY, and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC.
"When we concentrate on a material object...the very act of our attention may lead to our involuntarily sinking into the history of that object. Transparent things, through which the past shines! Objects, inert in themselves but much used by careless life, (you are thinking of a hillside stone over which a multitude of small animals have scurried) are particularly difficult to keep in surface focus: novices fall through the surface, humming happily to themselves, and are soon reveling with childish abandon in the story of this stone, of that heath. A thin veneer of immediate reality is spread over natural and artificial matter, and whoever wishes to remain in the now, should please not break its tension film. Otherwise the inexperienced miracle-worker will find himself no longer walking on water, but descending upright among staring fish."
Vladimir Nabokov
Ellen Kochansky's artistic practice is rooted in her experience as a textile artist, designer and quilter. With a firm grounding in traditional craft, Kochansky's work has always stretched those definitions to include experimental fiber and mixed-media art, public and private commissions as well as community-based and site-specific installations. For her company, EKO, she designed and manufactured custom quilts from 1989 to 2004.
In a career spanning over 30 years, Ellen Kochansky has actively promoted the arts, the preservation and extension of craft traditions, and environmentally responsible practices, and continues to foster emerging artists through teaching and mentorship for all ages. To further these goals, she has launched a non-profit residency program called The Rensing Center.
She has been an American Craft Council Trustee (1989-1993), a National Endowment for the Arts American Canvas Panelist (1997), and a founding Director of Ripple Effect Sustainable Design Group (1999-2001). She has twice been chosen Craft Fellow by the South Carolina Arts Commission. She serves on the Pickens County Cultural Commission and on the City of Clemson's Green Ribbon Commission. Ellen has shared her experience through teaching and workshops, including Penland, Arrowmont, and the Innovation Institute (McColl Center, Charlotte, NC). She as served as a juror for national art shows such as Cherry Creek, Evanston, and American Craft Council, as well as South Carolina's Verner Awards. Her work is included in The Mint Museum, The American Museum of Art and Design in NY, and the White House Collection, and she has been cited in various book, articles, and television programs, notably CBS Sunday Morning and the book Six Continents of Quilts. A list of exhibitions, commissions, awards and more can be found on her website: www.ekochansky.com.
Under the Rug 2009 96" x 48"
from Embedded Energy, the Footprint Series,originally displayed at 701 Center for Contemporary Art, Columbia, SC, USA (and using memorabilia from the artist's residency there, November 2008-February 2009)
This hanging was part of a ten-panel installation that bridged book and quilt arts to highlight storytelling, community, and the resourceful use of what I call "Cultural Compost". In a Window Series and a Footprint Series, the panels represent the strata of architectural and geological memory, chronicling my stay at 701. Contributions from the Olympia Mill community (in this case the footprints of the guests who came through my studio) are juxtaposed against botanical remnants, and one shrimp tail...Human and natural history. Emotional and physical energy are embedded in all the elements of our lives, and as we squander the irreplaceable, we ignore our own innate ability to live within our means, and to make graceful use of what is right within reach.
Materials: botanicals, graphite, silk organza, and bookbinder's glue.
Price: $1800