Untitled

Artist

Ellen Koeberlein

Artist bio

Ellen is a local Toledo, Ohio artist. Her favorite medium is pastel. She likes to gesso MDF board and apply pumice gel to create a rough surface that hold layers and layers of pastel medium. She prefers to use bright and vibrant color palettes with deep blues and purples to grab audiences attention. She often places complementary colors next to each other when creating her images. Her color palates are inspired by the beautiful sunsets that come with living on the Maumee River: high contrasting bright pink/peach colors and deep purples. Her subject matters are often observational or life drawings. She likes to play around with narrative artwork and wishes to move her subject matter more in that direction.

Visual Arts 2020 Contest

Title

Medium/Genre

Painting

Artist Statement

The concept of this piece originates from early Christian/Roman art. I took aspects of imagery present in historical artwork and brought it to the modern day. Glowing halos and icon portraits were my main inspiration. I wanted this glow of faith to encircle a young practitioner's portrait.

How it fits into contest

In rereading Ephesians 6:10-20, I came to understand I wanted to focus on the shield of faith. I looked into early artworks depicting the shield of faith along with the full armor of God and the sword of the Spirit. I questioned how the shield of faith should be depicted in today's world. Faith is all encompassing, so our shields should be as well. The devoted young follower in the image has her eyes closed in prayer - in faith - as her shield encompasses her to protect her from the darkness and sins of the world.