"I love taking the complex and breaking it down into the simple and putting it back together again with a new complexity much like the way I see Matisse and Picasso's artwork. I love being aware of the sights and sounds of this environment especially the play of pattern and shapes. I love that art can be a tool for great problem solving in all areas of our lives."

Ellen is a Michigan native and relocated to Cape Coral to soak up the delightful SW Florida sunshine. A graduate of Calvin College, she worked as an Art teacher in the Michigan schools since 1979. She taught children from kindergarten through adulthood, other teachers, and lectured at such places as Michigan Art Educators Association and the University of Michigan. She was instrumental in bringing quality art education into classrooms and starting Art education programs in schools that had none. Ellen was the forerunner in integrating Art into classroom curriculum and has had the opportunity and pleasure to work with and train many student interns in the art education field.

Although she has taught all traditional art media including photography, she is currently focusing on a series of paper castings.