Phyllis Ewen
Artist Statement
My 3-dimensional reliefs invite viewers to imagine ourselves within the seascape above and below the surface of the water. In the topographical waterscapes such as The Sea is Boiling and Drift, I have scanned charts and weather maps, altered them in Photoshop, and printed them. These pigment prints are then cut and reassembled to form imagined waterscapes that highlight the changing nature of our seas; rising waters and melting glaciers – the effects of global warming and human intervention. I add paint, graphite and puzzle pieces. And I those most recent, I have added gestures drawn by hand. Although maps imply a viewer looking down at the landscape, I hope that the dimensional qualities of my images allow us imagine ourselves within it; that to inhabit the seas as another way of understanding.
Melting glaciers and warming seas have affected the sea floor as well. In The Deep imagery is drawn from maps of the ocean floor. The depth and texture in these works are both illusion and actual. Layers are attached with magnets, reflecting the magnetic energy of the earth’s tectonic plates.
In the Deep: Magnetic Anomalies, sculptural collage: pigment print, paint, magnets) 20 x 25 x 3 inches, 2018

Polar Melt Sculptural Collage: pigment print, paint textures 32" x 20 x 4" 2021

The Sea is Boiling Sculptural Collage: pigment print, paint, textures 33" x 20 x 4" 2021/22

Drift, Sculptural Collage: pigment print, paint, textures 33" x 22 x 4" 2021/22

Glacial Leap, Sculptural Collage: pigment print, paint, textures 37" x 20 x 4" 20 22

Torrents, Sculptural Collage: pigment print, paint, textures 37 x 26 x 4" 2023

Maelstrom, 2023, sculptural drawing, 22” x 39” x 3” diptych

Tectonic Expansion, installation, Sculptural Collage: pigment print, paint, textures 10' x 14' x 3" '

Surge , 2023, sculptural drawing, 30” x 22” x 3”

Torrents, 2023, sculptural drawing, 15” x 18” x 3”

Turbulent (e)motion 4, Sculptural Collage, pigment print, paint textures, puzzle pieces, 22" x 15" x 3", 2022

Turbulent (e)motion 3, Sculptural Collage, pigment print, paint textures, puzzle pieces, 22" x 15" x 3", 2022

Turbulent (e)motion 2, Sculptural Collage, pigment print, paint textures, puzzle pieces, 22" x 15" x 3", 2022

Turbulent (e)motion 3, Sculptural Collage, pigment print, paint textures, puzzle pieces, 22" x 15" x 3", 2022

On Ice, Sculptural Collage, pigment print, paint textures, acupuncture needles, 19" x 13" x 3", 2023

In the Sea. Sculptural Collage, pigment print, paint textures, acupuncture needles, 19" x 13" x 3", 2023

Melt, Sculptural Collage, pigment print, paint textures, acupuncture needles, 19" x 13" x 3", 2023

Tectonic Expansion - detail
Collections (Selected)
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Boston Public Library
Celia & Walter Gilbert, Cambridge, MA Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Lexington MA Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Lexington MA DeCordova Museum, Lincoln MA
Emily Kline & Tom Shapiro, Belmont MA
Frank McCourt, Inc., Boston, MA
Harvard University Business School, Cambridge, MA Healthworks, Boston, MA
Howard and Mameve Medwed, Cambridge, MA Keyport Life Insurance, Boston, MA
Lochridge and Co, Boston,MA
Meditech, Framingham, MA
Mutual Fund Service Company, Boston MA
New England Biolabs, Beverley, MA
Nicky Gavron, London, England
Price-Waterhouse, Boston,MA
Shapiro, Grace & Haber, Boston, MA
Sullivan & Cogliano, Walthem, MA
Symmetrics, Lexington MA
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO Contact