Ellen Picken

Ellen Picken was born and raised in Spokane. For the past nine years, she has made rugged Ferry County her home. Despite her remote location, her work is primarily shown in Seattle and Spokane, and she has exhibited across the globe from Ecuador to Germany. She primarily works in 2D, oil and graphite on panels. Most recently, she was awarded the Joan Mitchell and Vermont Studio Center Fellowship to attend the VSC residency. Other residencies include St. Gertrude’s Monastery, Cottonwood Idaho, and GlogauAIR, Berlin, Germany.

Ellen received 2013 GAP Award funding to assist with the expenses of attending the Vermont Studio Center for an artist residency in September 2013. Having lived for a decade in the wilderness of Northeast Washington, her work is built around the solitude and abundance of the forest and community. The GAP will assist with her travel to Vermont, purchase of art supplies, and shipment of completed works back home to Washington State.

Ellen received 2010 GAP Award funding towards studio rental and materials for two projects. One is to complete a body of work for two solo shows and the other for research and studio time in Berlin, Germany. Of German descent, Ellen feels she needs perspective and understanding of where her ideas come from and that her attraction to the grotesque and the sublime may have strong ties to Germanic myth and tales. While in Germany, she will research artists such as Caspar David Friedrich, Anselm Kiefer, and George Baselitz.