In Ebersole’s work, sidewalk debris from daily life swirl in colorful and sporadic compositions, frozen within layers of dehydrated gelatin. Gathered from a ritual of walking, collecting, and preserving, these fragments are rendered temporarily static and are ultimately embedded with contradiction. The gelatin, derived from a once-living being, will eventually dissolve leaving no trace other than the man-made bits that remain. Ebersole is interested in this paradox and the human desire to seek certainty and permanence in a world where chaos and change are the only sure things.
Haylee Ebersole is an interdisciplinary artist working in printmaking, drawing, and sculpture. She earned a BFA in Printmaking from Metropolitan State College of Denver and an MFA in Printmaking from Ohio University. In 2017, Ebersole was awarded the Emerging Artist of the Year by the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and was the recipient of a Creative Development Grant provided by the Investing in Professional Artist Grants Program, a partnership of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments. She taught Drawing and Mixed Media at Seton Hill University and is the founder of Meshwork Press, a community minded letterpress and design studio in Wilkinsburg, PA.