The World Has Need of You
by Ellen Bass
…everything here seems to need us…
—Rilke
I can hardly imagine it
as I walk to the lighthouse, feeling the ancient
prayer of my arms swinging
in counterpoint to my feet.
Here I am, suspended
between the sidewalk and twilight,
the sky dimming so fast it seems alive.
What if you felt the invisible
tug between you and everything?
A boy on a bicycle rides by,
his white shirt open, flaring
behind him like wings.
It’s a hard time to be human. We know too much
and too little. Does the breeze need us?
The cliffs? The gulls?
If you’ve managed to do one good thing,
the ocean doesn’t care.
But when Newton’s apple fell toward the earth,
the earth, ever so slightly, fell
toward the apple as well.
We are pleased to present a solo exhibition of works by Stella Ebner. This marks the second solo presentation of prints by Ebner with the gallery. Known for her lush watercolor monotype and woodcut prints, Ebner's point of view presents an increasingly intimate take on life in the everyday. The show’s title comes from a poem by Ellen Bass of the same name. In the poem, Bass asks us to examine and acknowledge that our lives and actions are important and can make a difference.
As Stella explains, “I am creating a series of large-scale watercolor monotypes depicting contemporary moments and events that bring people together, from intimate moments to larger collective experiences: a 100th birthday celebration; meeting a new baby, swimming lessons at a community pool, a novel writing group, and a library story time. Like the poem, with its emphasis on the gravity of small moments, these prints attempt to give weight and make visible these often-unacknowledged instances of quiet connection, of teaching, of learning, and of care. Some moments such as these reveal the bonds that connect us and help us overcome the rifts and cracks in our society that divide us.”
