Ecka Blaire Faulds: Artist’s Reception

On the evening of Wednesday, November 19th, 2025, FOCA hosted an Artist’s Reception for Ecka Blaire Faulds at the Keeper’s House.

Ecka treated the group to a lively talk about her work that is currently on view. Canvases include lush images of swimmers immersed in fresh water and views of the OCA in all seasons.

A happy crowd gathered for drinks, comestibles, and conversation.

The Aqueduct, said Ecka, “is a magical resource for us all.” She described her work as “a love letter to the Trail,” adding that she walks it on a daily basis. She added, “The trees have gotten to know me — to settle me and ground me.”

Most in the crowd would agree!

The artist has been a resident of Hastings-on-Hudson for fifteen years. She received a BFA in painting from Hartford Art School/University of Hartford and has shown her work throughout the Northeast.
Ecka offered some fascinating insights into her technique. She employs pastels, acrylics or oils to paper, sometimes using her fingers to apply the paint. She recalled an art history class that focused on color and being overwhelmed by the color green. It inspired her to begin working on canvases that would show “how we’re lost in these greenspaces.”

Each painting, she said, “is temperamental. It will tell me when it’s had enough.”

In an artist’s statement, she describes the paintings as “snapshots that allow us to feel at one with a world which we have drastically altered, while preserving natural memories in the hope we’ll always have wild green woods to get lost in and cold lakes to dive into.”

“If I weren’t human,” Ecka told the group assembled at the KH, “I’d just be a frog, floating.”

Ecka’s work will remain up through the end of 2025. To see more, visit eckablaire.com.