The Cello Dream

The Cello Dream, originally uploaded by eyobart.

Every morning when I wake up I feed human bread to the ducks outside my porch. When I don’t wake up and feed them they tend to scream at my window and disturb me very much. Amusingly, they give me inspiration. Their voices may sound raw and dreadful to many but remind me of a saxophone and the sound you get when you are manually ripping a piece of cloth. At the same time, other birds flee to this scene and sometimes rabbits and squirrels come. It gives me a child-like experience filled with simple and common fun that some take for granted.
The Cello Dream was basically inspired by these bird encounters at my window. I took the song-like voices of the birds and depicted them as floating people under the moon. The songs of the birds merge with the cello player and his dreams of the full moon.
I do many paintings like this because it helps my mind enter into a state of refreshment after a long and motivational art piece or set.

More musical paintings at…eyobart.com

Born of the Water and of the Spirit

 































































































 Born of Water and of the Spirit, originally updated by Eyob

                 After a loooooooooong trip to Ethiopia the last few months, traveling an adventurous and exciting trip across that great historical country, I am now back in town! The last few weeks, I have kept myself busy with the painting for the new Avera McKenna Hospice. I have actually used the knowledge gained from my trip in this work of art. Before I made my visit to Ethiopian churches, a lot of my inspiration was from mostly my imagination and sacred art. After my visit, some of my imaginative elements were confirmed and new ideas were raised. My art is delightfully taking a new turn towards a modernized dimension of Ethiopian art. By following and concentrating on the roots of Ethiopian art I believe my viewers will see a hidden and sacred language that cannot be spoken but seen in my art. Here is a brief description of the paintings.

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5

Description:

                   This painting is meant to represent baptism so as to symbolize Hope, the feeling of Healing and Salvation. It is meant to give a sense of comfort, sense of healing, sense of re-birth. Extending from the past through the present to the future, it is meant to guide the minds of people to explore the spiritual world in an artistic language and form both in the form of Water and Spirit as in the words of Jesus. Artistically, the spiritual elements representing different concepts radiating towards one universal theme, were depicted using dynamic composition. The blue painting is “born of water” and the red is “born of the spirit”. All in all, this painting is generally aiming to give cultural awareness from the perspective of art.

Symbols:

                    Several elements are included in the two pentaplet canvasses. The Child symbolizes a sense of re-birth and represents baptism as in The New Testament; The Dove represents Spirit, The Ten Commandment represents the past (taking us back to the Old Testament) and the influence of which transcends to the present; the Umbrellas symbolize protection from the Sun. The ancient Cross icons symbolize the sacrifice Jesus Christ paid on the Cross for the salvation of humanity. All the above elements are chosen and included to give a sense of healing, hope and salvation for the needy!

 

SFC Finale Show (In My Studio)

This show was a display of all the work done by the students. The show made for a nice evening for all of us.  Surprisingly, their was reported more than 300 people that came to the opening.

Click HERE for more information.

The Last Day of Alpha Omega

 

      

This picture was taken at the entryway of the high school with all of us together.

Click HERE for more information.

Alpha Omega

Alpha Omega, originally uploaded by eyobart.

SFC Collaboration
Alpha Omega
Mixed Collage

Alpha Omega (Gr. "το 'Αλφα και το Ω), translated into Greek, means A to Z. Numerous people relate this to “the first and the last” or “the beginning and the end.” These few but powerful words are known to be appellation of God in the Bible book of Revelations. We gave this title to the project because we view it as the birth of a new concept. We were the first to discover and create this kind of concept in hopes that we were able to convey the mood and ideas of this theme. However, what ultimately unifies this project it is the representation of the life and times of Jesus Christ in our painting with modern and conceptual art.
Tomorrow is actually going to be the day when the Mural is going to be hanging on the walls of SFC. The theme of the Mural is based on a Christian Art. 18 Students each created a piece by using musical notes, biblical verses to create a unified collage icon. They also have their individual designs and styles incorporated into their art. All the pieces are then arranged together in a form of a large cross in a triptych format.

The Mural will be hung May 16th at SFC High School entrance

The show for their remaining art pieces the students created will be displayed in my studio on May 24th beginning at 5:30 P.M

 Click here for the KSFY TV News Station Article

The Final Film Shot! Friday 5.25.07

The color of sound art, originally uploaded by eyobart.

The Color of Sound: Music Inspires Art

An interactive concert featuring local visual artists and musicians.

Four talented Sioux FAlls artists, Scott L. Ehrisman, Hope Happeny, Eyob Mergia and Jamie Scarbrough, will create several paintings on canvas while listening to the region's top Jazz and Blues Bands-- Dakota Jazz Collective and Urban Blues.

This film will be very special for all of us!

Mural Art - Part I

On Mayday, around eight o’ clock, I found an email that told me we needed to change the theme on our mural project from Jazz to Christian. The Christian theme also was to have an emphasis on the bible verse: Psalms 150:3-5 "Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

Luckily, we were ending our research about the Jazz concept in color motive and form instead of painting it. The reason why we needed to change the theme is because the SFC requested it so that the mural can be hung on the walls of the entryway. Thus, it would better suit the school’s Christian environment. I love the idea for the Christian theme but due to large amount of time that was given to us for the jazz theme, I prefer that better. Time is crucial in art because with that you are able to research your topic and incorporate it in a beautiful way.
For a long time, the students started their paintings with a white background, glue, and paint. They used a collage system that started from black and altered to white. This gave them a sense of tonal gradation which gives them a better understanding in color. This time, I had the students start from the middle of the light brown and dark brown tonal gradations I had made. For example, the middle tonal gradation of black and white is gray. This gave them an opportunity to learn how to work with different tonal gradations of one color. In fact, this can give a project a monochromatic feel but still hold color as an advantage.
What surprised me with the students visit today was the fact that all of the students came with an excitement and passion. We had the chance to work with mature, rich colors that represent Christian art but also themselves. This differs from all the other work the students have done because it gives them a chance to take a common theme and symbolize that with their individual creativity. It was great as well as wonderful because half of the mural is so far successful.

“This technique of art was created to be the basis and root of a new way of art. Everything else can only branch off.”