“Serpentine Lullaby”

2023, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 in 

In this piece by Ellie Wallace, Kendall Matsey, and Kennedy Stewart, the theme of celebration is apparent through collaboration, intuitive decision-making and improvisational artistic approaches, and the layering process of abstraction. It combines feelings of passion and the ethereal qualities of abstract art. The process was the most thrilling. The decision to give full creative freedom to one another by working on the piece separately at different times, not establishing an orientation of the canvas (each person turned the canvas each time they worked on it), and using our own skill sets to build off one another’s prior brush strokes, embodied the characteristics of how both abstraction and team projects are approached. This team has found a parallel in the techniques used to create a successful artwork as a group and the way one would attack an abstract work. This act of unifying made for the most rewarding outcome; therefore, the final piece is celebratory in itself.