FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY
"Ellis's photographs look like nineteenth-century etchings or the ink-brush paintings of an ancient Zen master."
—Nathaniel Reade
New England Home
I love kindness in nature and humankind.
I live and work on the island of Martha's Vineyard, where I create contemplative black-and-white photographic portraits of flora. My studio practice is wholly intentional and meditative. Like many flowers in the garden, I am an extroverted introvert and solitude is my most treasured companion in the realm of curiosity.
My work has been exhibited in group shows at the Saatchi Gallery London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Eric Carle Museum, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Carnegie Trust Museum, Griffin Museum of Photography, San Francisco Film Foundation, SF Mission Cultural Center, Works/San Jose, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, and other galleries in the US.
My flora portraits are held in private and public collections, including the Harvard Divinity School.
With Cosmos bipinnatus.
©Ray Ewing for the Vineyard Gazette
RECENT SELECT EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
2023 Miraculum Old Sculpin Gallery
2022 Prayer Flower installation Old Sculpin Gallery
2021 Cosmosis Schule Chapel Gallery at Featherstone Center for the Arts
2020 Joyful Participation in A World of Sorrows The Carnegie Trust Museum
GROUP
2023 Colorado Photographic Arts Center | Cape Cod Museum of Art | Saatchi Gallery London
2022 Saatchi Gallery London | Marblehead Arts Gallery | Cape Cod Museum of Art | Griffin Museum of Photography | A Gallery at Featherstone Center for the Arts
2021 Cape Cod Museum of Art | Griffin Museum of Photography
2020 Cape Cod Museum of Art | Winter Street Gallery
COLLECTIONS
Harvard Divinity School (series commission)
Martha's Vineyard Hospital (multiple works)
AWARDS & GRANTS
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Grant
Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant
Royal Horticultural Society UK (two-time medal recipient)
Pre-select nominee, SECA, SFMOMA
Photography Fellow, San Francisco Academy of Art
Eisner Award in Photography, University of California Berkeley
RESIDENCIES & TEACHING EXPERIENCE
R E S I D E N C I E S
Creative Growth, Oakland, CA
Alhambra Library, Alhambra, CA
T E A C H I N G E X P E R I E N C E
UC Berkeley Extension, Berkeley, CA
Art Center at Night, Pasadena, CA
CSSSA at CalArts, Valencia, CA
CSSSA at Mills College, Oakland, CA
CSSSA at CSU Fresno, Fresno, CA
Public & Private schools, Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
Oakland High School
Oakland, CA
Bachelor of Arts
University of California at Berkeley
Scripps College (transfer to UCB)
Graduate studies
MA & Ph.D. track (withdrew)
University of California at Berkeley
Radcliffe College
Master of Art (special status study)
Mills College
Master of Arts (withdrew)
San Francisco State University