Yesterday I visited the studio of Ellen Hill. Ellen works with wood surfaces which are carved or treated with acrylic paint and various mediums. For the past four years she has assembled fragments of these wood elements to create dense rhythmic fields of color and pattern in both intimate and large scale wall pieces.

Comfort Series: WEB, 9″ x 9″

The immediate impact of her work is orderly, yet close investigation presents a range of organic design within each small tile or carved surface, yielding a thoughtful interpretation of the natural environment. And the natural environment is exactly where this artist’s early artistic awareness begins.

As a child, Ellen grew up in Rocky Hill, New Jersey and then Athens, Georgia where she was surrounded by pine forests and often played in them for hours with her three creative sisters: My sisters and I built a natural Putt Putt golf course in the woods! All the holes had dirt floors and all the obstacles were wood logs and puddles.

In Rocky Hill, we used to go to an area with huge maple trees that had large exposed root systems. We used to build houses in the roots, we called them Witch Houses, they had little people in houses in the roots of the trees. We’d get moss and use it as carpeting, we’d build little bedrooms and kitchens with places to put their pots and pans.

Sometimes my mom, who was a painter, would give me a big metal bowl with water and dish soap in it and then she’d get some food coloring. I’d sit down with an egg beater and make suds in the bowl and then she’d sprinkle in the food coloring and I’d watch these bubbles appear in different colors. That would keep me entertained for hours.

Comfort Series: DOTS, 9″ x 9″

This is a cutting board that I made for my mom for Mother’s Day when I was about eleven years old and I got a wood burning set. She sent it to me a couple of years ago  and I put it together with the image on the left, which I felt had some meaning to it.

Here are some details of Ellen’s studio.

And here is Ellen’s most recent piece, a beautiful symphony of color called Summer.

Summer, 60″ x 47″

See more of Ellen Hill’s art on her website, www.ellenhillart.com.