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I fell in love with the idea of painting long before I ever picked up a brush. I was a kid, living with my family in New Hampshire, when I noticed – really noticed – the landscape for the first time. It was one of those quintessential fall days, with the light raking across unmown fields. The sky was a piercing blue, the trees were tricked out in their autumn splendor, and I was dazzled. I thought, “Someday I’m going to paint all this."
I was still at the crayon stage then, where I would lie on the floor and color furiously, but somehow all the color, and most specifically the light in the landscape that day, evoked a visceral response. And the path was set. I studied painting and drawing in college and began to work almost immediately in the business of television. There was a hierarchy to this: I began as "an extra pair of hands" delivering hot chocolate and coffee to the actors out in the fields on frigid exterior sets. I graduated to P.A. – production assistant – a lateral move, yes, but at least I had a title. I later became a props person and eventually a scenic artist. Being a scenic artist requires a wide array of skills. One must know how to grain wood, hang wallpaper, do faux finishes, paint perspectives, paint on a huge scale, paint whatever the production demands on any given day. And do something entirely different the next day. My work as a scenic artist took me from Sesame Street to the Santa Fe Opera, from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood to the sets of George Romero horror films. I loved (almost) every minute of it. And I like to think the skill set I amassed informs my painting today. I paint in watercolor, in part due to the range the medium affords me. One can paint translucent washes and multiple glazes, or thick opaque color using just enough water to carry the pigment from the palette to the paper. Watercolor offers the variety and challenge to keep me interested. It allows me to do something different every day. Ellen Hopkins Fountain 2016 |
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Education
BFA Painting and Drawing, Carnegie Mellon University Additional Studies:
Eric Aho, Paul Ching-Bor, Lois Dodd, Skip Lawrence, Thomas Sgouros |
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Solo Exhibitions
Hopper House, Nyack, NY 2017 Feature Artist, A.I.Friedman, Port Chester, NY 2016 The Lodge Gallery, Hawley, PA 2016, 2007 Village Hall Gallery, Hastings on Hudson, NY 2015 Greene Art Gallery, Guilford, CT 2014, 2010, 2004, 2002 Riverwinds Gallery, Beacon NY 2014 Smilow Center, Yale, New Haven CT 2013 Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers, NY 2013 Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, NY 2012 Martucci Gallery, Irvington, NY 20010 Chappaqua Library Gallery, Chappaqua, NY 2009 Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY 2008 The Hudson River Gallery & Conservators, Yonkers, NY 2007 Images Art Gallery, Briarcliff Manor, NY 2006 Anderson-Chase Gallery, Katonah, NY 2005 Walker-Kornbluth Gallery, Fair Lawn, NJ 2005 Freelance Café, Piermont, NY 2004 Allen Sheppard Gallery, New York, NY 2003, 2001 Wave Hill House, Bronx, NY 1999 Allen Sheppard Gallery, Piermont, NY 2000, 1998, 1997 The Donald Gallery, Dobbs Ferry, NY 1997 Selected Juried Exhibitions: Art of the Northeast, Silvermine, CT 2017 The Color of Light , Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, VT 2017 Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Exhibition, The Salmagundi Club, New York, NY 2016 In Media Res, Johnson, VT 2014 Small Works, Upstream Gallery, Dobbs Ferry, NY 2015, 2012 Hudson River Landscapes, Dominican College, Orangeburg, NY 2009 Westmoreland Arts National, Greensburg, PA 2008 National Association of Women Artists, New York, NY 2008 Hopper House Juried Exhibition, Nyack, NY 2008 Postcards from Within, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY 2007 In a Pastoral Setting, Shelburne Farms Coach Barn, Shelburne, VT 2007 Eleven @ 122, Kiesendahl & Calhoun, Pleasantville, NY 2007 Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD 2005 NY Plein Art Painters, Beacon, NY 2005 A Summer’s Evening, Mystic Art Association, Mystic, CT 2004 Local Color, Northern Westchester Center for the Arts, Mt. Kisco, NY 2003 Korea International Art Fair, Busan, Korea 2002 The Iridescent Watercolor, Noel Fine Art, Bronxville, NY 2001 Cowparade, Stamford, CT 2000 Landscapes of the Lower Hudson, Allen Sheppard Gallery, New York, NY 2000 Art on Main Street, Yonkers, NY 2000 Rye Arts Center Juried Exhibition, Rye, NY 1999 Rivers of Time, Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY 1999 The Hudson Valley, The River Gallery, Irvington, NY 1999 Three Abstract Women, The Art Workshop, Dobbs Ferry, NY 1998 Grass Roots, The Municipal Gallery, Hastings, NY 1998 Greenwich Arts Center Gallery, Greenwich, CT 1997 Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY 1996 Selected Collections: Smilow Center, Yale, New Haven, CT Pfizer, Incorporated, New York, NY Ginsburg Development Corporation, Valhalla, NY Yonkers Public Library, Yonkers, NY Jazz Forum Arts, Dobbs Ferry, NY Ardsley Public Library, Ardsley, NY Awards: Art of the Northeast, Patricia Warfield Jinishian Award for Painting, Silvermine CT 2017 The Color of Light, Third Place, Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury VT 2017 Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Exhibition, Bronze Medal, Painting, 2016 Artist Residency Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT Art of the Northeast Watercolor Award, Silvermine, CT Winsor & Newton Painting Award Fabriano Watercolor Award Publications: The Hook Magazine, 2011 The Rivertowns Enterprise, Featured Article, 2010 and 2005 American Artist Magazine, Article by M. Stephen Doherty, New York, NY 2006 Catskill Mountain Guide, Featured Artist, New York, NY 2006 The New York Times, Review, Dominic Lombardi, 2004 Watercolor Magic, Article, F&W Publications, Cincinnati, Ohio 2003 Watermedia Focus, CJ Publications, Boone, NC 2002 The Best of Watercolor, Rockport Publishers, Inc., Gloucester, MA 2002 Related Experience: Director, Rivertowns Arts Council, 2001 ~ 2005 Director, Ardsley Public Library, 2006 ~ 2011 Co-Director, The Donald Gallery, Dobbs Ferry, NY 1998 – 2007 Painting Instructor, Scarsdale Art Association 1997 – 2002 Painting Instructor, The Gallery at Hastings-on-Hudson 1996 Member, United Scenic Artists, Local 829, 1976 ~ 1989 |