Grasses – an art exhibition by Martha Ellis

Martha’s creative process is unusual and intriguing, jumping between traditional methods and the use of modern technology. She draws with pen and paper, cuts wood with a jigsaw, as well as creating digital files and using a laser to cut out some of her drawings.

Her ‘Grasses’ series has been four years in the making, after moving to Scotland from London in 2019, Martha stayed in the Scottish Borders where she regularly visited the Whiteadder River (near Duns).

During one of these visits, she sat on the riverbank and saw the grass around her silhouetted by the setting sun. Struck with how beautiful they were, this started Martha on her journey to document how the wild grasses, flowers and plants changed over the four seasons.

Martha visited the river on a regular basis to see how the plants changed, she would take cuttings and make sketches of the different flowers. Each individual stem is then drawn onto the computer by hand. The separate elements are then brought together in a composite composition. The laser follows the lines Martha has drawn to cut the image from a sheet of MDF.

Each drawing is mounted directly to the wall using specially designed hanging blocks, these blocks allow for a shadow to be cast onto the wall behind the work. Martha always tries to incorporate shadows into her art as she loves how this part of the process is completely out of her hands. Light in a room can often change, which in turn effects the shadows cast by her drawings. This can give the work a sense of movement, bringing the grasses to life!