Artist Statement – Elaine Kehew

My work is an exploration of memory, place, and the quiet complexity of what we carry with us—physically, emotionally, and culturally. Rooted in the practice of layering, I build surfaces that mirror the ways memory functions: fragmented, textured, sometimes obscured, often incomplete. Each mark, material, and gesture becomes part of an evolving archive—one that is as much about erasure and revision as it is about presence.

Growing up by the lakes amidst the shifting seasons of the Adirondacks, and later living in Kenya, I developed a deep sensitivity to landscape—not only as geography but as emotional terrain. These vastly different environments inform my sense of space and rhythm, influencing the light, color, and textures that emerge in my work. The contrast between rooted stillness and transient movement—between the grounded and the ephemeral—is central to my visual language.

I work with materials that echo lived histories: found paper, thread, earth pigments, fragments of text. These elements are layered, scraped back, rewritten—mirroring the way we recall and reshape our past over time. Nothing in my process is static; the work is built through accumulation and loss, the way memory itself is.

I am drawn to what is quiet and unresolved. My pieces often resist a clear narrative, instead inviting the viewer to pause, to notice what’s beneath the surface, to lean into ambiguity. I believe in the power of the small, the tactile, the intimate gesture to connect us across time and distance.

In this way, my work becomes both personal record and shared space—a place where memory is not preserved, but continually unfolding.

I studied painting and printmaking at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, after earning my law degree. I am privileged to have my paintings hang in collections in museums, office buildings, and private collections throughout the world. These days, I am a former traveler with a strong sense of home and hearth. I have learned that it’s best to exist in a place with two feet in, and see what happens.