Working with a multiplicity of nontraditional media, Eleanor White strives to transform materials while honoring their innate associations. Rose petals, crushed emu or chicken eggshells, wood ash, glass bottles, dandelion fuzz, cocoa powder, playing cards, gold leaf, hourglasses, straight pins and zinfandel wine are some of the familiar materials in White’s work. By her own admission, she creates “obsessively constructed objects and drawings”, her obsession and formal training manifest in meticulously crafted objects. White literally and metaphorically layers materials; object and meaning inform one another in her captivating work.
Eleanor White has been awarded numerous professional honors including a Fellowship in Printmaking/Drawing/Artists’ Books from The New York Foundation for the Arts, the New Art Annual award from the Stamford Museum, CT, the William H. Rinehart Award from Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, the Jacob K. Javits National Graduate Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education, and has earned residencies at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, VA. White earned her MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. The artist lives and works in Beacon, NY.