Contributed by Sharon Butler / In August, Two Coats of Paint Residency Program welcomes Ithaca, NY, artist Ariel Bullion Ecklund. Ecklund creates ceramic objects and photographs that draw from the memories she accumulates as she moves through the world. Universal themes such as absence, impermanence, memory, and yearning inform work that is also deeply personal. For our next resident, our bodies hold memories as much as our minds do. This understanding is the foundation for everything she makes.
Ecklund regards the act of making as a means of healing and processing. Sewing and thread-wrapping operate as meditations that enable her to work through complex emotions. Her methodical approach is an attempt to organize the unpredictable. Each stitch becomes a small act of control in a world that often feels chaotic and beyond understanding.
Ecklund looks to work by artists who aren’t afraid to confront difficult truths about humanity: Sally Mann’s haunting photographs capturing the bittersweet nature of instinct and memory; Francis Bacon’s intensely raw and emotional paintings; and Egon Schiele’s intimate, sexually charged renderings. Among other influences, Lenore Tawney’s textile work surfaces in Ecklund’s approach to thread and line, Richard Serra’s Torque Ellipses in her appreciation of reductive monumental forms that are at once massive and fragile.
Ecklund grew up in a very small family, and both her parents died young. As a matter of survival, she learned to do everything for herself. She believes in strength and resilience, but not at the expense of vulnerability. Though ostensibly a minimalist, she is dedicated to making works that record the full spectrum of human emotion: desperation and joy, insecurity and satisfaction, sadness and wonder. She doesn’t shy away from complexity or contradiction but instead embraces the complicated reality of being human.
About the artist: Ariel Bullion Ecklund (b.1969) is a curator and multidisciplinary artist in Ithaca, NY. She holds a BFA in Art Photography and an MA in Museum Studies, both from Syracuse University. Recent exhibitions include solos at Hawk + Hive in Andes, NY, and the Normal Royal Gallery at VOLTA Basel. Ariel is the director of the Corners Gallery in Ithaca, NY. For the remainder of 2025 and 2026, she is scheduled to curate, design and exhibit at various sites in New York, New Jersey, and Toronto.
Ariel Bullion Ecklund, Two Coats of Paint Artist Residency, 22-19 41st Avenue, 6th Floor, Studio #10, Long Island City, NY. August 3-8, 2025. Please join us for an Open Studio on Thursday, August 7, 2–5 pm. For more information, or to arrange a studio visit, please contact: STAFF@twocoatsofpaint.com. Please put STUDIO VISIT in the subject line. Follow Ariel on Instagram @ariel_bullion_ecklund
Studio listening: Dead Can Dance
Ariel’s upcoming shows and events:
“Barnstorm II”, (group exhibition), The Catskills Barn (curated by Jeff Quinn), Delhi, NY,
Upstate Art Weekend, July 17–21, 2025
Ariel Bullion and Domenica Brockman, “Inner Dialogue”, Cherry Arts Gallery, Ithaca, NY,
Mar 27 – May 10, 2026
Solo exhibition, Mueller Gallery, Caldwell University, Caldwell, NJ, September 2026
About the author: Sharon Butler is a painter and the publisher of Two Coats of Paint. She is looking forward to mentoring a virtual cohort of ten artists in the Canopy Program next year. The deadline for applying for a spot is July 27.
NOTE: Vermont artist Sage Tucker-Ketcham is in residence at Two Coats of Paint July 20-25. Please join us for her Open Studio on Thursday, July 24, 2 – 5 pm. For more information, or to arrange a studio visit, please contact: STAFF@twocoatsofpaint.com. Please put STUDIO VISIT in the subject line. Read more about Sage here.
