Australian Aboriginal Art Workshops hosted by Stone Ridge Library

The Stone Ridge Library will host a two-part workshop, entitled “Personal Dreaming,” where participants will create an abstract painting using ideas and techniques taken from the contemporary Australian Aboriginal desert painting tradition. Accord Artist Ellie Anderson will lead the workshops, 1:30-3 p.m. Saturdays, April 28 and May 5, at the Marbletown Community Center, 3564 Main St., Stone Ridge. Class size is 10-12 people and is suitable for adults and teens 17 and older. No previous art experience is necessary, and registration is required. There is a $10 materials fee per person, and participants will keep their work.  In the first session, students will create symbols to form their visual language. These might be animals, flowers, plants, stars, shapes of various states or countries, or other meaningful objects to symbolize their personal experience. In the second session, students will create their own “personal dreaming” narrative, using their symbols, and painting a background of contrasting colors and employing the flat traditional flat dot style to create their design. Born in Queensland, Australia, and trained as an art teacher, Ellie Anderson taught for several years before catching the travel bug. In the late ’60s she left Australia to work in England and Europe. After marrying an American and starting a family she completed a BA in fine art at George Mason University and taught high school art in Fairfax, Virginia. In retirement Anderson and her husband spent 10 years back in Queensland. There she devoted her time to painting and exhibiting with a group of like-minded art enthusiasts. This focus on art and re-exploring the familiar landscape of her childhood inspired her.  “I love the challenge of interpreting my ideas on canvas and using mainly the mediums of oil, acrylic and pastel. I especially love color, contrast and pattern making,” said Anderson. “When you start a new canvas, you enter another world.” Now living in Accord, she continues to be inspired by the landscape, animals and colors around her. She exhibited at the Stone Ridge Library last spring and summer and hosted impromptu sessions to discuss her methods and process.  For information and registration, contact Diane DeChillo in the Program Office, 687-7023, ext. 108, or by email manager@stoneridgelibrary.org.