Ellen van Toor

My family ran a distillery and as a child I used to play within the premises. It was in the labelling departmentwhere I created my first collages, perusing all the residual material I came across. To this day I still use whatever material I can lay my hands on, e.g.wallpaper, feathers, score sheets, flowers, all kind of cloth, i am fishing for rusted material with my magnet. I use all these in my paintings, etchings, jewellery and objects. I use weatherworn materials becouse they contain a 'story', which helps me develop my own story. During the past 4 years I have visited India several times to enrich my art. The colours and beautiful fabrics overwhelmed me and inspired me. I experimented with new materials and print structures using a mixture with mud and glue. One of my favourite shapes is that of the mirror; within depictions of a mirror I will position images of boats, fish, floats and all kind of secrets of the sea, often a combination of underwater with above-waterimagery, and usually in strict side-on vieuws. For such works, and most of my work, the title is important as a guideline for whoever is looking at the piece. For example, the title 'The Side of the Sea', will nudge the vieuwer to consider a wholly unexpected point of vieuw.