Ellen M Harper
Baltimore, Maryland
These drawings are from my current body of work entitled ”Cross Cultural Studies.” This series began with the idea of exploring the ways in which various cultures overlap, differ, and influence one another. I am very interested in pattern and why different cultures, religions, etc. choose certain patterns. What is their history? What do they mean? These ”Tibetan Tiles” are patterns that can be found in Tibetan monasteries. I choose to make these ”tiles” by using a pin to perforated the paper. First, I hand cut a stencil of the pattern and then use it as a template to perforate the paper. I find this to be a very meditative and disciplined process. Buddhists consider meditation to be an act of concentration on a particular object or idea which is why I found this artistic practice appropriate for this work. There are 9 tiles total in this particular series of drawings.Ellen M Harper holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland and an MFA from Towson University in Towson, Maryland.
