Ellen Lesperance

via Seattle Art Museum:
[In] October [2010], Ellen Lesperance (born 1971) received the Betty Bowen Award for her thought-provoking work that draws upon archival activist footage—specifically of women’s political demonstrations. From these historical documents, she extracts motifs embedded in the sweaters the women wore while engaged in non-violent, direct action protests, and creates paintings that are in effect knitting patterns. As the artist explains, “I make this work in order to memorialize the glory of effective resistance in an effort that these moments do not vanish from popular memory, in an effort that they can reach new audiences to inspire.” Lesperance received a MFA in Visual Arts from Rutgers University in 1999 and a BFA in Painting from the University of Washington in 1995. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
Cardigan Worn by One Woman of the Boeing Five, Tried for Entering the Boeing Nuclear Missile Plant on on September 27th, 1983, Sentenced to Fifteen Days in the King County Jail For Defending Life on Earth. 2011 Gouache and graphite on tea stained paper, hand knit sweater:

Ellen Lesperance (all images via Ambach + Rice)


1970, Joni Mitchell Sings "Sittin' in a Park in Paris, France, Reading the News and It's All Bad, They Won't Give Peace a Chance, That Was Just a Dream Some of Us Had" on the Johnny Cash Show and It's Called the Symphonic Masterpiece of the 20th Century:
Ellen Lesperance

Sitting and Lying in the Road in Front of the Convoy, They Formed a Blockade That Was 2,000 Women Thick 2010 Gouache and graphite on tea stained paper 23 x 29 in:

Ellen Lesperance
detail of an Ellen Lesperance painting

From Jen Graves (The Stranger):
Lesperance writes her titles on the paintings, taking the overtly radical tone of a poem proclaimed in the town square. But the pencil letters are outlined, not filled in. There's a call to action in that lightness and blankness, a space held wide open for the future in these resurrections of the past. There's also continuous movement in the back-and-forth between mediums in these works—from remembering (photography/video) to patterning (painting) to knitting (sculpture) to wearing (performance).
[...]
Lesperance published an essay on newsprint for this show, describing the conditions of the encampment at Greenham Common and considering the way street/camp installations by activists are overlooked by the art world while at the same time the trend of "relational" art promotes a theater of social engagement in the galleries. The points she makes are vitally important—as diagrammatic as her patterns/paintings, and as need-based and nurturing as the sweaters she resurrects. Her visualizations are visions in both senses of the word: lovely and engrossing, and steadfastly pushing forward. 

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