Elsie Driggs (1898 – 1992)
During Driggs’ long career, she explored the imagination, spatial trajectories and sequential images. Her work was included in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and at the Museum of Modern Art. Throughout her life, she worked with mixed media, collage and assemblages to explore themes of the expansiveness of nature and impermanence. Her husband, Lee Gatch was also a well-known American artist.
The painting, “Balloons”, a 13” x 11.5” watercolor and ink, showcases Drigg’s modern approach. In this mixed media piece, there is a visual, poetic overlap of forms. The image playfully suggests similarities in the movement and the sensations of these very different forms- swans and balloons. The piece is included in a series inspired by poetry by Emily Dickinson.