By Ashlyn Armock, Arts Editor
Aquinas Alumni Sarah Ellis and Thomas DeBoer held an exhibit reception on Saturday, Sept. 20.
Both Ellis and DeBoer graduated in 2018 with a Bachelors in Fine Arts and are now Art teachers in the west Michigan area. The two share some connecting ideas within their artist statements such as “finding some joy and comfort [in art, even though]… the world can be hard,” as DeBoer said. Ellis expresses almost the same sentiment in her artist philosophy.
Ellis mentions the idea of having a happy place. For Ellis, her happy place is her family cabin up north. “We don’t make a lot of money,” said Ellis. “But we are able to do things with our hands and so having that be a place where we can just go and disconnect and all hang out as a family is something that’s pretty rare in this world.”
“The Japanese have this very interesting saying that when you take a walk in the woods it’s called forest bathing,” Ellis said. “I really feel renewed when I go outside and I’m just amongst the trees. This summer really needed a time to disconnect, especially away from so many different noises online and on the news.”
Ellis standing next to her favorite piece called A Long View, Little L. Lake – Photo by Olivia LaMontana
“My husband and I would just sit out,” Ellis said when describing her favorite piece. “Especially right there in that spot and that [painting] was our view. We would just sit on the dock and hang out and I would make paintings. A lot of times our dog would just be sitting there too… It’s really a magical place for a lot of people. It’s also inspiring in the way that it builds upon family history and also shared family values of just being together and being able to connect with the outdoors and with people.”
A visitor observing the flyers put up in front of the gallery – Photo by Olivia LaMontana
In DeBoer’s artist statement, he talks about the importance of making art for yourself. “I spent a lot of time after college not making much art for myself,” DeBoer said. “It’s easy to get caught up in life. I think one thing that I have learned in the past four years of teaching art, is if you can find a way to make art every day, you will find it comes so much more easily. You cannot wait for inspiration, you need to try and fail and succeed, as often as you can.”
“The Madonna and Child is my wife and my baby.” DeBoer said when describing which pieces were his favorite. “This baby was at my leg the whole time while making this cause I would be standing at a desk doing stuff and then she would be playing around me.” DeBoer also touches on his second favorite piece, La Rotonda. “This one took a lot of time… At least 30 hours, probably more than that. I kept track till like 17 ½ hours and then I was like I can’t do this anymore. This was a super fun one to make.”
Kelli Herm, one of Ellis’ classmates, came to see the gallery. “I really liked the one with the books,” Herm said. “Mostly because I’m a librarian and I really liked the message, but I also enjoyed the nature pieces as well.”
To see the rest of Ellis’ and DeBoer’s work, visit the Art & Music Center on Aquinas’ Campus. Open times of the exhibit can be found in the link below:
The Saint 