Eide/Dalrymple Gallery features dreamlike, apocalyptic paintings

The bright colors and consuming scenes in the paintings of Eleanor Spiess-Ferris are at once delightful and daunting. The vivid oranges and bright yellows seem cheerful – until a closer examination reveals an apocalyptic scene.

Spiess-Ferris' exhibition in the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery is no exception. The catastrophic tone of "Shallow Waters: The Art of Eleanor Speiss-Ferris" appears subtly in the narrative the artist created for each piece.

"They're all a little apocalyptic, but I like that," she said during the exhibition's opening Friday, March 11. "I like to bring fantasy into the drawing."

As a surrealist painter, Spiess-Ferris interjects fantasy into all of her work. But that doesn't mean her inspirations aren't grounded in reality.

Spiess-Ferris featured birds in many of her paintings as a commentary on ecological issues in the modern world.

"I was thinking about what birds mean today," she said. "We are losing our birds. It's sad because one day, people will wake up and there won't be a blue bird on their shoulder. Now they [birds] have become to me a symbol of ecology."

And while birds appear in a number of her paintings, Spiess-Ferris relies less on the avian symbol today.

"I've been painting with birds for a lot of years, but now a lot of artists are doing that – so I'm not," she said. "I hate that everybody else has decided to paint birds; now I have to paint something else."

Spiess-Ferris' specialties span far beyond the birds, though. She uses red shoes as the unattainable because of an encounter with the perfect pair – just a half size too small – and a specific shade of blue Williamsburg paint to give "Shallow Waters" a distinctive appeal.

In addition to showing at the gallery, Spiess-Ferris conducted a demonstration for art students and community members and critiqued the work of advanced painting students.

A teacher at the Evanston Art Center in Evanston, Ill., Spiess-Ferris encouraged the students to follow their intuition when painting.

"My favorite part was when she talked about following our own wisdom," senior Kaija Pedersen said. "She warned us not to let other people tell us what to do."

Although many of the students do not typically paint surrealist scenes, they appreciated Spiess-Ferris' attitude about her work.

"Her work is surrealist, but she goes about it lightheartedly," senior Megan Siegle said. "She wants to know your interpretation."

A glimpse into Spiess-Ferris' past revealed the reasons behind her focus on the instinctive nature of art. Her childhood experience with vision informs her adult artistic perspective.

"When I got my first pair of glasses, I realized there was distance," she said. "It's taken me a long time to realize distance because I was trained in 2D."

In addition to anecdotes about her personal life, Spiess-Ferris described her thoughts on several of her paintings at the gallery opening; however, she was less concerned about sharing her thoughts than learning what audience members discovered in her work.

"I will tell you what I was thinking, but it doesn't make any difference," she said. "It's about what you glean from it."

Her inviting attitude inspired students not only to engage with the new exhibit, but also to look differently at their own work. 

"I love hearing other artists talk about their process," senior Regina Brunz said. "It gives me a spark to start my own creative process."

And while Spiess-Ferris inspired Augustana students, it seems they had a similar effect on her.

"Her work is so different from what I do," senior Alexandra Hurney said. "It opens my eyes to new ideas. And she [Spiess-Ferris] was so insightful and has amazing technique. She told us, ‘I like to have young friends, it keeps me young.'"

The apocalyptic works of Eleanor Spiess-Ferris will be in the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery until Saturday, April 16. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and is free to the public.