Ellen George creates abstract work made of richly colored polymer clay, a low temperature curing plastic clay. She works exclusively with translucent clay,mixing her own colors, taking care that even the most saturated colors remain translucent. When cured, polymer clay has the permanence and durability of acrylic paint.
George works palm-size, manipulating the polymer clay over and over with her hands and fingertips, immersed in the tactile connection. Modulating between saturated and muted color, the translucent forms of her work relate to simple elements in nature, like twigs, petals or stones, but ultimately, they become their own sensual species. For George, working in a diminutive scale offers a feeling of timelessness and a sense of infinity.
Ellen George was born on Galveston Island to two doctors, a native Texan, and a first generation Chinese mother. Among her earliest memories are visions of tiny aquatic life, teeming in drops of Gulf water, collected and seen under the microscope in her parent’s lab. She received a BA in art from Austin College, and has studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland.
George’s work is widely exhibited and featured in many private and public collections including the Oregon Health and Science University, the Museum of East Texas, the 4Culture, King County (Seattle WA) Public Art Collection, and the Tacoma Art Museum. She has received residencies at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology on the Oregon coast and the c3:initiative in Portland. She has a large-scale permanent glass installation in the Nines Hotel atrium, in Portland, Oregon.
Ellen has lived in the Pacific Northwest over twenty years. Her work appears courtesy of PDX Contemporary Art in Portland, Oregon.
