September 7 – October 5, 2007
Elaine M. Erne – Mr. Bunny and Friends
Member artist Elaine M. Erne will be exhibiting her large-scale graphite pencil drawings of Mr. Bunny and Friends. This group of drawings, from the series The Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animal, uses toys as allegories for children and their fears.
Elaine renders each of these large-scale drawing in this exhibition with a range of graphite pencils depicting the stuffed animals and their nemesis with meticulous, delicate detail. The push-pull of light and dark give the drawings an eerie luminous quality. Layers and layers of graphite achieve deep, rich blacks in the space surrounding the traumatized stuffed animals creating the feeling of isolation.
Mr. Bunny and his troop of dolls have been called ‘comically disturbing depiction of stuffed animals under siege’. Although there is a playful side, the underlining theme in the work is about fear, cruelty and survival. In recurring distressful situations, children become like dolls, putting forward a cheerful personae in order to survive. These drawings capture the aura that surrounds a person who has no control. (Elaine says no stuffed animals were harmed in the making of these drawings)
Elaine M. Erne received her MFA in Glass Sculpture at Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and her BFA in Painting and Glass Sculpture from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. In 2003 she was granted a two-year fellowship with the Center for the Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia. She has had several solo exhibitions including a Community Solo Series Exhibition at the Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA, a Challenge Exhibition at the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA and a solo show at BahdeeBahdu Gallery and Studio in Philadelphia. She currently teaches both children and adult art classes at the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial and works for the Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA.