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Featured in the exhibition Resonance at the Ann Korologos Gallery, artist Alexandra Eldridge brings a deeply poetic and symbolic voice to the all-women’s group exhibition. Based in Santa Fe, NM Eldridge creates richly layered works that invite viewers into a realm where imagination, symbolism and intuition intertwine. Working primarily in mixed media, Eldridge’s paintings explore paradox and possibility, emerging, as she writes, from a place “where contradictions are allowed, paradox reigns and reason is abandoned,” in a search for “the inherent radiance in all things.” In this conversation with the gallery, Eldridge reflects on the ideas and inner landscapes that shape her work, offering insight into a practice that embraces mystery, storytelling, and the extraordinary within the everyday.
AKG: This exhibition highlights the women artists represented by the gallery. How has your experience as a woman shaped your artistic voice or perspective?
Eldridge: I was very fortunate to have a mother who was a painter and a feminist, as was my father. My marriages have been to men who are artists and greatly supportive. I really have never known any other life but that of the arts.
AKG: Your work often explores archetypal and symbolic imagery connected to the feminine. How do you navigate tradition and innovation in your work?
Eldridge: I’ve always followed my own path and did not follow my parent’s more traditional one. They began to publish by creating 27 children’s books. I have, of late, found myself in this world of publishing as well, creating paintings to illustrate each of the Radiant Tarot and The Oracle of Rewilding decks, and next year publishing The Alchemy of Women, Voices and Visions of the Divine Feminine, a book of poetry by women paired with my paintings in. I do feel as if I work from a feminine perspective. Being a symbolic and archetypal painter, my work has lent itself to each of these projects.
AKG: What is an early memory that influences your work?
Eldridge: I have been enthralled with Indian and Persian miniatures since high school, when I would take the bus to NYC to study Pierpont Morgan Library’s great collection of those and the Christian illuminated manuscripts. Sacred Patience happened halfway through the abstraction period. I did a series of paintings that I called “Illuminated Manuscripts.” They were all made with venetian plaster and colored to look like the parchment that the Illuminated Manuscripts were created on. They are small stories with no beginning and no end. I started this series in my early twenties on actual 18th century parchment. This series, which includes Sacred Patience, is a modern day version.
AKG: A notable shift has happened since your post-Cy Twombly’s exhibition era! Tell us more about the creative process behind these works.
Eldridge: Both paintings, Sacred Patience and Own Wings, featured in Resonance began with venetian plaster which speak of their start before the abstraction took over. But, they have been in the midst of transformation through the last few years. Some paintings need to be set aside and then worked on until they speak of the spirit of the depths at the right time.
Eldridge: Own Wings feature elements such as The Wise Owl, the boat, the all-seeing hand that can execute what it sees in the invisible from early stages of the painting. Recently, I added more abstraction to the painting, such as the flowers rising up. I had written on a larger painting the Wm. Blake words “No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.” This doesn’t speak of individualism but of following your own muse. I had to write this on tracing paper, so I took “own wings” and changed its meaning altogether by placing it in this painting near the owl, a suggestion to soar by owning your own wings.
AKG: Your paintings explore symbolic and archetypal imagery. What ideas or myths inspired the work you included in Resonance?
Eldridge: Sacred Patience features an alchemical vessel with a story – with no beginning or end – of the interconnected nature of all things. The fish, the birds, the sky and the human home meet to connect to each other. Here, the transformation takes place. They all nourish each other, but it takes sacred patience. The moths I added not too long ago after hearing about the significance of the moth in nature, learning that they pollinate more, feed more life, occupy more niches, and hold ecosystems together – largely unnoticed. They are circling the vessel and providing protection. The color of the background mimics the color of parchment.
AKG: If your work in this exhibition could start a conversation with the viewer, what would you want that conversation to be about?
Eldridge: This is how I came to paint them, but I hope everyone sees something different than I do. The paintings are open to interpretations of all kinds! What are yours?
To learn more about Alexandra Eldridge, visit her artist page or contact Ann Korologos Gallery!
