Here's the Press Release I've just sent out. If you're reading this and would like to share it, please feel free!

BIRDS FLY IN: A HUMAN REFUGE LAUNCHES AT OLIVER ART CENTER

A project that’s been in the making since February, 2018, Frankfort artist Ellie Harold’s multimedia exhibition BIRDS FLY IN: A Human Refuge is set to launch on August 7 at the Oliver Art Center. A team representing the U.S.,  Mexico, Germany, and the U.K. have collaborated to create the art, music and poetry featured in the avian-themed installation created in response to migration issues at the U.S. southern border.

BIRDS FLY IN comprises 16 of Ellie’s large format oil paintings displayed on both sides of a Refuge Structure designed by local architect Wilfried Schley. The Structure fills the Oliver Art Center’s Beck Gallery: Its chain link walls are like those used in detention centers in which asylum seekers have been held in the U.S. On the outside, Mylar blankets and shoes worn by migrants in Mexico have been attached to the fencing, along with banners with poems related to the refugee experience. A ceiling fabricated by fiber artist Elizabeth Rodgers floats above the Refuge. On the inside, lyrical framed bird paintings serve as windows through the chain link.

Inspired in part by Houston’s Rothko Chapel, visitors may experience the art against the background of original soundtrack music written and performed by Mexican composer/violinist David Mendoza. In the center of the Refuge, an octagonal bench created by Roo Davison provides seating for “slow looking and deep listening.” The music emanates from within a large bird cage fashioned by metal sculptor Steve Kline. A User’s Guide suggests how visitors may take a creative “time-out” within this secular sanctuary. After experiencing the Human Refuge, visitors will enjoy the OAC’s Borwell Gallery on the lower level where they will find large colorful banners featuring poems by 7 local writers along with a display of works available for purchase in support of the Oliver Art Center and Birds Fly In, Inc., the non-profit organization that seeks to mount the exhibit in national venues. 

Ellie first conceived of BIRDS FLY IN while stuck in traffic on an Atlanta expressway. “I suddenly realized how the political rancor that was dividing families across the U.S. was like one huge gridlock filled with road-raged people on both sides. What would it be like if there was a place, like a bird sanctuary, where humans could take a time-out for rest and reflection?” Shortly after the 2016 Presidential Election, Ellie’s paintings had begun to feature birdlike shapes. Now, she understood her bird art might play a part in helping people reduce the stress related to current events.

With renewed enforcement of policies related to migration at the U.S./Mexico border, Ellie began to see that birds might also serve as a metaphor for the human desire for greater freedom and love. In San Miguel de Allende, Mexico conducting one of her Art Retreats for Women, she heard David Mendoza perform in a local café. “His soulful music made me weep,” she remembers. “And, when I told David I would love to bring him to Michigan, he replied, ‘It is my dream to come to your country.’” This serendipitous encounter led to Ellie commissioning Mendoza not only to create his first professionally recorded CD album but also live painting/music performances the pair have given in San Miguel. While U. S. Customs & Immigration Service denied the pre-COVID application for Mendoza to travel to Frankfort, the soundtrack music may be enjoyed by all who visit the exhibition. 

When COVID safety measures were put in place to allow for the Oliver Art Center to reopen, plans for a large public reception for the family-friendly exhibit were scrapped. Instead, BIRDS FLY IN will simply open without fanfare during the OAC’s regular hours with all mandated physical distancing and mask protocols. On this change, Ellie reflects, “I had actually been concerned a loud opening might prevent visitors from experiencing the wonder of BIRDS FLY IN. We hope that visitors will take advantage of this opportunity for contemplation. With the unrest in our country today, it seems the timing couldn’t be more appropriate.”

BIRDS FLY IN: A Human Refuge will run through September 11 at the Oliver Art Center and is scheduled for a 3-month installation in 2021 at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City. For more information and to view and introductory video, go to BirdsFlyIn.org.

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When I began painting, I had no idea what was in store for me. It's truly been a case of learning "by going where I have to go." I've come a good ways. And, I know I still have far to travel.  It's been an amazing journey!

As I've described in my book 7 Habit of Deeply Fulfilled Artists: Your Aesthetic Needs & How to Meet Them, I purchased art supplies in response to an insistent inner voice I heard on three consecutive sleepless nights: "Do art!" While I recognized this as a kind of calling, I had long before abandoned any interest in making art and had little idea of what sort of art I might do were to follow its lead. Then, one day, after 6 months of looking at the materials and equipment I'd stacked in a corner, I saw some orange lilies and blue asters in my garden. Without much thought, I grabbed them, stuck them in a small pitcher and began to paint.

This happened in June, 2003. In the intervening 17 years, the channel that opened for me that day has continued to flow in a number of different streams. This year my Summer Studio & Gallery is hung salon-style with examples of plein air painting efforts, representational still lifes, semi-abstracted barns, and full-on abstraction.  And, of course, in the past 4 years, a fair selection of intuitively-painted birds.

Like my art career, these birds arrived apparently unbidden.  When I used paint to explore and express my emotions in the period following the 2016 Presidential Election, they first flew onto my canvas as black blobs.  When they seemed to assuage the fear and anger I was experiencing at the time, I came to describe these randomly-generated birdlike shapes as "intuitive messengers of hope and healing."

I've spent the past 2 years creating the art installation BIRDS FLY IN: A Human Refuge as a testament to how intuition can help individuals navigate troubling outer circumstances to find meaningful and creative responses within themselves. For me, it's been about reducing my consumption of unquestioned beliefs, opinions and attitudes so, turning within, I can discover a deeper and more relevant truth. In my art as in life, this has meant learning to trust the intuitive process, instead of experts, to nudge me (or shove me) to do the next right thing for me to do. I find it helps to put on some loud rock music and dance. (I woke up the neighbors this past Sunday morning with The Doors!)

Time and again, I've seen how what and how I think I should paint is much less effective than what I do paint if I simply follow my inclination to do the next thing. When I turn off the shoulds, I pick up a tube of paint—not because someone has told me this is the correct color—but simply because I'm drawn to it. Or it is drawn to me. Or both. Trusting intuition, I find I'm guided to solutions that work in the moment to create the painting that wants to be painted by me today. All I have to do is what seems to be next best action, even if I don't understand why I'm doing it.

Like so many would-be artists, I grew up believing I was not creative. My artist dad criticized my drawing and a high school art teacher gave me a C on a simple project. For years, I believed what others told me. Then, one day, I grabbed those flowers and started exploring my artistic potential in earnest.  Now, I look around my Studio & Gallery and see evidence of a creativity I never imagined I possessed. I thank my lucky stars that I finally gave myself permission to paint and continue to do so on a daily basis. It's made a huge difference in my life and, I hope, in the lives of many fans and collectors.

I'd love to share with you tricks I've learned for for addressing whatever gets in the way of your full artistic expression by accessing intuition. (Hint: It might have to do with fear, pride or self-will.) If you want the freedom to do the Art that is yours to do, I hope you'll consider taking the workshop I'll be giving August 17-20, Making Intuitive Art: Permission to Paint Expressively. In this workshop, I will work to help you process and release your artistic blocks using paint and exercises I've developed and used for years. You'll work to let go and enjoy the flow of Art through you.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to discuss whether you could benefit from this workshop. Also, please share this with anyone you believe might benefit from reading it! Thanks!

With all love and encouragement,

Ellie

P.S. As part of the workshop, you'll take an exclusive field trip to the Oliver Art Center to explore the many dimensions of BIRDS FLY IN firsthand. Due to COVID safety protocols, this in-person workshop is limited to 5 participants. Register now to claim your spot.