make a ruckus
make a ruckus
Day Dreamer, detail
22” x 24” Day Dreamer
DAY DREAMER // Quarantine, 2020
And now, for something different. Though, it’s starting to seem like it was always in there somewhere. I remember a few years ago, making paintings where I wanted to channel the energy of the carpeting at laser tag and the roller rink. Then, items from my childhood started arrive in the mail as my parents delved into the nooks and crannies of my childhood home.
In March 2020, I lost all of my work, and grad school slowed to a low hum. The internship I inherited for school credit came to an abrupt end as the organization I worked for pared down on staff. I watched my saxophone gigs disappear from my calendar. My day job eliminated every single position in the most earnest, diplomatic, caring way possible - safeguarding us so that we could be taken care of by all the taxes we’d paid through every paycheck. Unemployment and stimulus money helped sustain me, as did the box of food from the National Guard when I went to get tested for COVID-19. By the grace of my family who is fortunate enough to have the means to support me and the pittance from our government, I was able to stay safely at home for many months, and for the first time since I entered the school system as a toddler, my mind finally belonged to myself again. With my mind finally working for me, full time, this is what became of it.
“Ella, you’re an extrovert,” started a friend, “how are you really doing?”
I silently gestured toward my new art series, Playgrounds.
I tried melting anything I could through my hot glue gun. I salvaged toys, costume jewelry, crayons, erasers, chipboard boxes and scrap wood. I found a way to make “collectibles” valuable to myself again. I laughed my way through the work. I hope it gives you a little motion sickness, like the yin and yang of candy. Delightful and yet, nauseating.
Quarantine brought everyone something different this year, and it hasn’t been easy for anyone. I am so proud of every single one of you, who showed empathy for those in your community and listened to medical and science professionals every time they updated their research. I’m so proud of you for sewing masks, 3-D printing medical devices, and for protesting our militarized police force while nurses had to wear trash bags as hazmat suits; when our government failed to protect us. So proud of you for standing up against vulture capitalists and instead, deciding to take care of one another through direct acts. Cheers to the everyday helpers, the protesters, the community fridge keepers, the good bosses, and anyone who stood up for someone more vulnerable than them this year. This presentation of unbridled curiosity, play, and joy, is for you. You deserve all of your joy.
We press on.
32” x 32” x 144”
A continuation of the stitched collage technique Campbell began experimenting with in 2018, Campbell’s project for Aquarium Gallery reimagines collage through the exploration of appliqué, quilting, sculpture and surrealism. A central component of this exhibition is a set of large-scale paper installations comprised of nearly 200 square feet of magazine pages stitched together by hand and machine. Speaking to themes of nature and the boldness of life to persevere, Paper Lantern seeks to praise what brings us light.
Donations to Aquarium Gallery are encouraged.
ARTIST STATEMENT
It is my hope that Paper Lantern reminds visitors of what brings them light, and the life that grounds them. For me, making paper art is light, and the behavior of magazine paper has always been a catalyst for my work. It is playful, it can be curled like ribbons, sewn like fabric, or drenched in paste and never lose its color. This playfulness makes it resilient - like us - and makes it perfect for collage, a practice that mimics life itself. We are present, we destruct, we find place, and we put ourselves back together.
When I speak of Paper Lantern praising what brings us light, I am not only speaking of moments that bring us bliss or happiness, but the parts of life we cling to when we are hopelessly crestfallen. Paper Lantern praises the things that move our feet and place them firmly on the ground when it seems like darkness is all around us. Paper Lantern celebrates the lights at the end of tunnels, and the moments that show us who we could be, if only we were a bit more like ourselves.
Email ella@raymondstreetruckus.com with Paper Lantern inquiries or to purchase.
size varies
An abstract Honeycomb, flexible to be hung from the wall, draped over a mantle or set on a shelf, it can fit into the space it is given, just like a hive. “Honeycomb” is made from multiple paper cups created from magazine cuttings. Each cup is individually assembled on a sewing machine, and then hand stitched together one at a time using waxed cotton thread.
Email ella@raymondstreetruckus.com with inquiries or to purchase.
8” x 11”
“No” is a perfectly good reaction to “supposed to."
Magazine cuttings, Vintage roadmap, 60pt Impact font, Cotton thread
Email ella@raymondstreetruckus.com with inquiries or to purchase.
