contemporary fine art photography
contemporary photography
Ellen Jantzen
Unexpected Geology
Ellen Jantzen creates works that bridge the world of prints, photography and collage.
In this series the American artist explores the realm of one's environmental surroundings, how that is absorbed into one's psyche and how this changes through relocations. Her move from the relatively flat Midwest (her place of birth) to the mountainous West (New Mexico, specifically) needed some adjustments in her way of working and seeing. Initially she was stymied by this landscape that is so fraught with cliché. But soon she found herself aspiring to bring her new home into focus, to make it her own.
Ellen Jantzen: "I stand back and take it all in. I have always been intrigued with mountains, their formation, evolution and beauty. I find the history of geology fascinating, the ebb and flow of minerals, deposits and formations. I am intrigued with how small rocks and stones are, essentially, mountains except for size. They are made of the same materials and minerals. Ratio, proportion, relative size, all plays a part in the magnitude of the structures. There is an aesthetic magic of scale. Lately I have been including petroglyphs found on rock formations bringing the ancient history of rocks and people together. I approach this work as both a window through which I observe my new surrounds (recording what I see) and a mirror where I bring my sensibilities to bear, reflecting my inner state of being. I use layering and blending modes to merge the observed environment with my internal intuition. At times I digitally place stones in my photographs of mountainous landscapes while obscuring the scale references. Other times I distort and raise the landforms in a digital dance of perception."
Ellen Jantzen
was born and raised in St. Louis Missouri.
She currently lives and works in Santa Fe.
Find more information about the artist on her Website.
(Images: Ellen Jantzen)