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Enders is known for her seascapes and botanical drawings

Elizabeth McGuire Enders ’62 didn’t want to be an artist when she grew up. At Connecticut College she studied creative writing, languages and playwriting, and received her bachelor’s degree in English.

But she was already filling her notebooks with sketches.

Enders, who grew up in New London, began to show her work in 1965; in 1971, she and several other artists opened the Inman Square Artists Co-op in Cambridge, Mass. She continued to paint as she raised four children in Boston, London and New York City; in 1987, she earned her master’s degree in art from New York University.

Charlotta Kotik, curator of an exhibition of Enders’ work, "Landscape/Language/Line," at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, said that much of the artist’s work is influenced by her early literary interests.

During the 1970s, Enders principally painted seascapes. She has said that the Atlantic Ocean figured prominently in her family’s life "from the time we were born. … It was so intense and large when we were quite small. … (But) there is something comforting about it as well."

Kotik said that by eliminating nonessential details in her seascapes, Enders’ paintings exhibit the elusive beauty of coastal areas.

Fine detail, however, marks Enders’ botanical drawings. Though she doesn’t believe she truly captured the flowers’ natural beauty in her early works, she says, "It really is using the basic look of the flowers and then launching off with some kind of inspiration."

Enders exhibits throughout the country and internationally. A resident of New York City and Waterford, Conn., the former College Trustee received the Connecticut College Medal in 1993.

"Landscape/Language/Line" is on view at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum through Aug. 23. For more information, visit www.lymanallyn.org or call 860-443-2545.

 



April 17, 2009