Ellis Teare, Boatiful, 2017. Glazed Porcelain, 10” x 7” x 4.”
Ellis Teare, Magnolia Vest, 2018. Magnolia leaves, embroidery thread, 14” x 6” x 16.”
Ellis Teare, Working installation view, 2020.
Ellis Teare, Working installation view, 2020.
Ellis Teare, Morgan’s Sword, 2020. Steel, velvet ribbon, pearl stickers, 35” x 5 ½.”
Ellis Teare, Wishing/Weeping Well (in progress), 2020. Plaster, wood, chicken wire, acrylic paint, 2 ½’ x 2 ½’ x 3’.
Ellis Teare, Wishing/Weeping Well (in progress), 2020. Plaster, wood, chicken wire, acrylic paint, 2 ½’ x 2 ½’ x 3.’
Ellis Teare, Hills of Camelot (in progress), 2020. Wood, chicken wire, plaster, spray paint, decorative frog, speaker, dimensions variable.
Ellis Teare, Hills of Camelot (in progress), 2020. Wood, chicken wire, plaster, spray paint, decorative frog, speaker, dimensions variable.
Ellis Teare, Hills of Camelot (in progress), 2020. Wood, chicken wire, plaster, spray paint, decorative frog, speaker, dimensions variable.
Ellis Teare exhibition layout.
Ellis Teare exhibition layout.

Ellis Teare

I make objects and sculptures which draw from my fascination with medieval art, craft, and literature, and explore how these can be revived and honored in a modern context. I am interested in the evolution of what it means to be a woman today versus in centuries past, and establishing my place in time, especially because I always feel like in my head I live somewhere beyond time. There enters my interest in medieval art, and desire to modify that art and bring it into contemporary spaces.

My interest in 3D art initially began when I discovered the craft of taxidermy in high school. Fascinated by the intricate combination of anatomy and art, I began looking at animal bodies and proportions, and later took that knowledge to clay when I experimented with ceramics. Working with clay was the gateway to 3D art, and since then I have begun exploring materials such as wood, metal, and plaster. Now I am collecting many different kinds of skills and crafts to work in as many mediums as possible.

My process consists of obsessively researching some source of inspiration, like harps, tapestries, Arthurian legends, mythical creatures, and then attempting to recreate it in my own way. I am exploring contradicting ideas such as the juxtaposition between strong and pretty (girly weaponry) and death and glamour (taxidermy creatures with glittering eyes and ribbon tails). I am using these objects I’ve created to look at gender dynamics, and express the way that I see the world in my mind’s eye, or even to actualize my dream world.

I appreciate art that is fun to engage with, makes you feel like a child, and makes that okay; I value playfulness and imagination. My art is whimsical and works towards transporting the viewer to someplace they might’ve been before in fairytales, myths, their own childhood, via my anachronistic objects.

While my style is constantly shifting and evolving, my work as a whole embodies the wonder I have for the world; it is an attempt to portray the alternate world that I see in my head, in real life. It challenges the norm of today’s modern art and asks the viewer to let go of reality for a moment.