Ellinwood’s use of foraged natural materials as her primary medium since the 80s, ranges from tiny intimate sculptures to all-encompassing installations filling entire rooms. A piece of driftwood, pods, seeds or dried kelp may linger for years in the studio before she finds the right combination of elements. Although it takes hours of moving, rearranging, drilling, gluing, sanding, and even starting over to achieve that effect, the resulting sculpture then feels like it was always meant to exist together, as if it has actually grown together–a little bit of alchemy.