Ellen McCormick Martens
Artist Statement
I believe we create from the inside out. Reacting to what is happening outside of ourselves is not enough; true change begins in imagination. By envisioning beauty, balance, and regeneration, I make paintings that offer a vision of what could be, not just what is. Each work is a symbolic gesture toward healing—of self, of community, and of the natural world we have harmed but can restore.
The wild forests, shifting seasons, and waters of the Great Lakes landscape gave me my first sense of beauty and belonging, and they continue to shape my imagery. I am drawn to myth, spirit, and the timeless rhythms of the natural world.
The Ogham Tree Alphabet series is the deepest work I have made. Ogham is an ancient Irish script in which each letter is a tree — and each tree carries a symbolic world: myth, medicine, augury, ancestral memory. My series is a cycle of thirteen paintings, pairing each letter with a specific tree, all of them native to North America. Into each painting I weave the Ogham symbol itself, birds, geometric forms such as the vesica piscis, embedded words, and collaged elements. My ancestors carried Celtic lore across the Atlantic into a new landscape. These trees were already here, waiting. Each painting is a place where the two meet. For those who inherited a tradition that says the world is an enchanted place, I hope these paintings feel like recognition. For those who are new to it, I hope they offer an invitation.
My work is a hybrid of painting and collage, blending representational and abstract elements. I create vivid, lively abstractions with collage, often adding quirky shapes that meander across textured backgrounds, bringing a sense of movement and play.
Art is meant to be seen. In this time of crisis and transition, I believe images can hearten us and remind us of our shared humanity. Each painting carries the energy of unity and compassion—an offering to those who encounter it. The true power of my work is in the moment of seeing, when spirit meets spirit through image.
