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Mary Ellen Long Art

Mixed media work that use objects and savings from my studio miscellany.
  • GALLERY
  • ABOUT
  • EXHIBITION
  • INSTALLATION
  • ENVIRONMENTAL SITE
  • ARCHIVE
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ARCHIVE

A selection of works in a variety of media that are in the artist's collection and in private, museum, and university special collections 

Winter Pressing 2005-06
Winter Pressing 2005-06

Varied showings: Center for Book Arts, New York City, NY; Zipp Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; "San Diego Book Arts Juried Show, La Jolla, CA; New Jersey City University, Jersey City; Shy Rabbit Gallery, Pagosa Springs, CO;  Vivo Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

(nature-altered paper, wire, natural elements)

Placed in varied collections

Decades
Decades

10 small handmade books  hanging from a vintage baby bonnet.  Each book contains a journal of experience, etc. and represent a decade of the artist's life, 

(bonnet, threads, varied papers, ink)

collection of the artist

180 Days
180 Days

"Travel Visions", The Art Library, Durango Arts Center, Colorado, 2001; "Members Show", Center for Book Arts, NYC. 2002; San Diego Book Arts in Santa Fe, NM and San Diego, CA

During a 6 month visit to New Zealand, I made a page for each day with an image and notation of day and place. The pages were tied together in 6 day bundles.

(New Zealand handmade flax paper, thread, box, green stone, prismacolor, ink)

collection of the artist

Gradations of Grey, 2008
Gradations of Grey, 2008

A collection of drawings of mountains, collaged on nature-altered paper.

(book covers of slate, stonehenge paper, ink, sumi ink, solvent-transfer text)

Collection: Special Collections, UCSD, La Jolla, CA

Language Found. 2008
Language Found. 2008

San Diego Book Arts Juried Show, UCSD, La Jolla, CA; "Wide Open". Business of Art, CO. Springs

Found boards became a backdrop for small books containing drawings on nature-altered paper.  The palm-book style holds the boards together.

(nature-altered boards, paper, ink, twine)

collection: Special Collections, UCSD, La Jolla, CA

Language Bound, 2008
Language Bound, 2008

Vivo Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 2011; 

The found boards became a base for flax and mulberry paper bundles.

Collection: Penrose Library, University of Denver, CO

 

The Walk The Wild The Way, 2012
The Walk The Wild The Way, 2012

The book is contained in a custom-made box of walnut and class.

Collection: Athenaeum Music & Music Library

The Walk The Wild The Way (detail)
The Walk The Wild The Way (detail)

Pages are alternated with marking inspired by bark larvae and text about the environment - a stab binding.

(nature-altered paper, Japanese paper, scorch, digital print, thread)

Winter Pressing 2007-08
Winter Pressing 2007-08

"San Diego Book Arts Juried Exhibit; Land Gallery Book Show, Albuquerque, NM

(nature-altered paper, natural elements, solvent-transferred text, coptic bound - contained in a wood  box. Bark-paper book cover and box top)

collection: Penrose Library, University of Denver, CO

Winter Pressing 2011-12
Winter Pressing 2011-12

"San Diego Book Arts", Cerritos Library, CA;  Grafias Gallery, Nantucket, MA

A palm-leaf binding holds pages with text about the process of burying paper under winter snow.

(nature-altered and imported paper, linen thread, solvent-transfer text)

Collection: Special Collections, UCSD. La Jolla, CA

The Unlived Life of Mary Ellen
The Unlived Life of Mary Ellen

"Juried Show", Durango Arts Center, CO

Book speaking of my thoughts on not receiving a chemistry set when I was young. Contained in a vintage chemistry set. 

(digital photographs and writings.  Secret Belgium binding.)

collection of the artist

 

Shintai Scrolls, 1982
Shintai Scrolls, 1982

Using bark fragments and my handmade paper began my work in sculptural forms when I moved to a forest environment in Colorado.

(handmade paper (kozo/gampi fiber) and bark, oak base)

Collection: Baylor University, Texas

To Learn About the Pine, 2014
To Learn About the Pine, 2014

The burnt bark fragment inspired this book.  The pages were cast on aspen trees.  Scorch was applied to the edges of the pages.  The text was taken from the words of Basho, a famous Japanese poet.

(burnt bark, handmade Kozo paper, twine, birch bark collage, ink)

Exhibited: Abecedarian Gallery, Denver, CO

Collection: Mandeville Library, Special Collections, Geisel Library, UC San Diego, CA

Barn, 2015
Barn, 2015

Photographs printed on vellum paper, slate cover from barn roof

private collection

Secrets of the Burn, 2004
Secrets of the Burn, 2004

Scrolls of delicate paper are wrapped with fragments from a massive fire near my studio.  These peelings from aspen trees were gathered after the fire.  The scrolls became a containment of memory and story.

Exhibited:Center from Book Arts, New York City; Durango Arts Center, CO (Best in Show)/ Paper-Book Intensive, Steamboat Springs, CO; Zipp Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; San Diego Book Arts, UCSD

collection: Penrose Library, Special Collections, University of Denver

Journey in the San Juans, 1993
Journey in the San Juans, 1993

7”x7”x40” found rusty elements, threads, wood blocks, variable and seaweed papers, photographs, prism color

Collection of Mark Long and Rebecca Todd

SPINE
SPINE

collection of Mark C. Long, Keene State College, Keene, NH

Beware
Beware

4 1/2" x 3.3/4" x 1"  (box 5 1/4" x 7 1/2" x 2")

A porcupine was gnawing parts of my house and there was no choice but to exterminate it.  It was buried nearby and after winter, the bones were found white and clean.  My son sent me the poem "The Porcupine" by Gallway Kinnell.

(altered book, quills, bone, box covered with Japanese paper, press-on letters, leather, sand, ink, pigment)

Private Collection

Passage, 1983
Passage, 1983

Durango Arts Center exhibit, 1983

(handmade paper of kozo/gampi/straw fibers), branches, oak base)

private collection

Sando Sign, 1983
Sando Sign, 1983

Durango Arts Center exhibit, 1983

(handmade paper of kozo/gampi fibers, willow, oak base)

Russell Engineering, Durango, CO

Torii, 1983
Torii, 1983

Durango Arts Center exhibit, 1983

(handmade paper of kozo/gampi fibers, willow, oak base)

private collection

Lichen
Lichen

"Echoes in Time", Durango Arts Center, CO; Sangre de Cristo Art Center, Pueblo, CO; William Carlos Williams Center, Rutherford, NJ; Kruglak Gallery, Mira Costa College, Oceanside, CA

(Informed by photographs of lichen on rock, nature'altered paper backed by canvas, with applied charcoal, dry pigment, and sands.  7'x13')

Collection:  Colorado Public Art, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Wasp, Feather, Paper
Wasp, Feather, Paper

Collage of antique, various and handmade papers

private collection

Tapa Afrikan
Tapa Afrikan

2011 - Tapa cloth collage with calligraphic drawing

private collection

The Passing Wisdom of Birds, 1993
The Passing Wisdom of Birds, 1993

Collage on board, photograph

(text: Spanish conquest Mexico and killing of birds)

Collection of Caaroline Corre, Center of Book Arts, Verderonne, France

Mask
Mask

Wasp paper glued on cast paper

private collection

Winter Pressing 1987-88
Winter Pressing 1987-88

Paper buried under winter snow. Being printed by the forest detritus

Part of an annual ritual. 1983-present

Winter Pressing 2008-09
Winter Pressing 2008-09

nature-altered, scorched, charcoaled, sanded, sumi-inked, with conte-crayon

Private collection

Mountain: Missionary Ridge
Mountain: Missionary Ridge

Imported papers, prismacolor, rock

(text: Gary Synder)

Shown at Center of Book Arts, NY, NY

Private Collection

Wasp Maze, 2014
Wasp Maze, 2014

Nest interior, imported and vellum papers, wasp paper

Shown at Abecedarian Gallery, Denver, CO

Collection of Special Collections, Baylor University, Texas

Winter Pressing 2013-14
Winter Pressing 2013-14

(Roots into Rivers)

Private collection

Bird Song. 1996
Bird Song. 1996

handmade paper, foil, ink, thread, driftwood (Text: bird sonograms)

Collection: Caroline Corre, Center for Book Arts, Verderonne, France

Winter Pressing 2014-15
Winter Pressing 2014-15

Walking the Trail, El Diente

Collection: The Athenaeum Music and Art Library, La Jolla, CA

Winter Pressing 2013-14
Winter Pressing 2013-14

detail of inside pages

nature altered, vellum and varied papers, prismacolor drawing

private collection

Winter Pressing 2017-18
Winter Pressing 2017-18

(Recipes for Saving Planet Earth)

nature altered paper, photographs, recipe box

Collection: The Athenaeum Music and Art Library, La Jolla, CA

Tangle, 2014
Tangle, 2014

altered photography, fishing bobbin, imported papers

Bainbridge Museum of Art, WA

Wonder Women, 2018
Wonder Women, 2018

doll arms, silk, varied papers

Penrose Library, University of Denver, CO

Wonder Women (inside detail)
Wonder Women (inside detail)

ink- jet printed text

Threadings, 2019
Threadings, 2019

collaged nature-altered, linen threads sewing through the pages

collection: Special Collections of University of Denver, CO

At Seventy
At Seventy

8 (2” sq.)books with text of the writings of May Sarton

Stroke
Stroke

A wood box ( 9” x 11” x 4”) containing 10 folios telling the story of artist’s 2018 stroke event, memory scrolls, scorched wood ball. (shown with artists’ book “Veinings”).

Winter Pressing 2019-20
Winter Pressing 2019-20

Collection: The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla, CA

The Collage Book
The Collage Book

A collage collection made through the years. Special Collections, University of Denver

The Collage Book
The Collage Book

detail

Imaging Japan
Imaging Japan

An accordion book in the lacquered book with element.

Excorism.jpg
Falling Colors
Falling Colors

Mixed media collage, 30”x22” ,2023 Private collection

Earth Pressing installation
Earth Pressing installation

Assemblage of earth pressed papers, with burnt worm markings approximately 30” square - Private collection

Inheritance
Inheritance

Collage, 12’ x 9” 2023 (private collection)

IMG_8656.jpeg
Aspen
Aspen

Pencil drawing, 7’ x 40”

Winter Pressing Book
Winter Pressing Book

11” x 11” x 3” Coptic bound book (Documentation of Winter Pressings from 1995 - 2020)

Winter Pressing Book
Winter Pressing Book

detail

 Detail - Winter Pressing Book

Detail - Winter Pressing Book

Dominicalita
Dominicalita

pigment drawing

Closure
Closure
Cloud Paper Root
Cloud Paper Root

Kozo-gampi handmade paper, University of Denver Library

Phastasm.jpeg
New Zealand, 1999
New Zealand, 1999

Private Collection

Falling Colors
Falling Colors

30” x 22” Drawing/Collage Private Collection

Winter Pressing 2005-06 Decades 180 Days Gradations of Grey, 2008 Language Found. 2008 Language Bound, 2008 The Walk The Wild The Way, 2012 The Walk The Wild The Way (detail) Winter Pressing 2007-08 Winter Pressing 2011-12 The Unlived Life of Mary Ellen Shintai Scrolls, 1982 To Learn About the Pine, 2014 Barn, 2015 Secrets of the Burn, 2004 Journey in the San Juans, 1993 SPINE Beware Passage, 1983 Sando Sign, 1983 Torii, 1983 Lichen Wasp, Feather, Paper Tapa Afrikan The Passing Wisdom of Birds, 1993 Mask Winter Pressing 1987-88 Winter Pressing 2008-09 Mountain: Missionary Ridge Wasp Maze, 2014 Winter Pressing 2013-14 Bird Song. 1996 Winter Pressing 2014-15 Winter Pressing 2013-14 Winter Pressing 2017-18 Tangle, 2014 Wonder Women, 2018 Wonder Women (inside detail) Threadings, 2019 At Seventy Stroke Winter Pressing 2019-20 The Collage Book The Collage Book Imaging Japan Excorism.jpg Falling Colors Earth Pressing installation Inheritance IMG_8656.jpeg Aspen Winter Pressing Book Winter Pressing Book  Detail - Winter Pressing Book Dominicalita Closure Cloud Paper Root Phastasm.jpeg New Zealand, 1999 Falling Colors