Ellen Johansen

Ellen grew up on the East Coast of the US, and has lived and worked in London and California. Ellen moved to New Zealand in 2003, and now makes her home on Waiheke Island, off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, where she continues her art practice.

Ellen first studied painting under Jacob Lawrence at the University of Washington (Seattle), where she completed her BFA. She later graduated with an MFA at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in Auckland. She continues her painting practice at her studio on Waiheke Island, inspired by a concern with the power of natural phenomena that inform her abstract works. Her highly textured and translucent surfaces communicate an interest in magnifying colour, texture and pattern evocative of the natural forces that have fascinated her on her travels in Europe, the U.S., and the Pacific.

Ellen's paintings have been chosen as finalists in the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award in 2012, and in the Walker and Hall Art Award for the past five years. Her works are in private collections in the U.S. and New Zealand.

BFA, University of Washington (Seattle, US)
MFA, Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design (Auckland, New Zealand)