Ellen Little Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica CA April 11- May 18, 2014 Photographs by Anne Hamersky and Ellen Little
The paintings in this exhibition were inspired by birds that crash into windows. Glass disorients birds by reflecting the surrounding trees. Seeing the reflection as habitat, birds fly into it at full speed without regard for the danger. It is estimated that between three million to one billion birds die each year from collisions with windows.
Urban Bird no. 21, 2014 watercolor on paper 45 x 75 inches
Urban Bird no. 20 2014 watercolor on paper 52 x 73 inches
Urban Bird no. 22 2014 watercolor on paper 52 x 70 inches
Urban Bird no. 9 2013 watercolor on paper 72 x 52 inches
I paint from real birds that I find or that friends bring me. I store them in a dedicated freezer just outside my studio. Sometimes I draw or paint small studies of a bird to use as reference for a large painting. More often I paint spontaneously without preplanning.
Urban Bird no. 23 2014 watercolor on paper 75 x 52 inches
Urban Bird no. 18 2014 watercolor on paper 52 x 75 inches
Urban Bird no. 8 2014 watercolor on paper 22 x 30 inches
I would like to thank Kara, Kim and Thekla who’s advice and encouragement gave this project it’s wings, and Lucinda Barnes who gave Urban Bird no. 13 the Juror’s Exhibition Award at the 2013 Left Coast Annual thus launching the Urban Bird Project. I also offer heartfelt thanks to all the passersby who have stopped to look at these paintings and tell me their bird stories. It may have been as simple as how they helped a bird escape from the classroom in second grade, or about the hawk that returned year after year to build it’s nest in the chimney next door, or about their collection of nests remarkable for the way small branches were intricately woven into a basket capable of holding an entire family of birds. As it turns out, everyone has a bird story.
Urban Bird no. 13, 2013 watercolor on paper 52 x 79 inches
Ellen Little San Francisco based artist, Ellen Little, earned her
BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena CA, then moved to New York to pursue a career in advertising. In New York she won many awards for her creative work and taught at the School of Visual Arts. Eventually Ellen moved to San Francisco and started the graphic design firm, Little Design Group. In 2009 she closed Little Design in order to paint.
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions 2014 Sanchez Art Center, Urban Bird Project, Pacifica CA Workshop, Backyards and Botanicals, Sausalito CA 2013 Napa Valley Library, The Backyard Series, Napa CA Low Tide Club, Ellen Little:Recent Works, Sausalito CA 2011 Love & Luxe, The Backyard Series, San Francisco CA
Selected Group Exhibitions 2014 Gray Loft Gallery, Flora and Form, Oakland CA Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Summer National Juried Exhibition, Novato, CA Arc Gallery, Like a Tom Waits Song, San Francisco CA 2013 Napa Valley Museum, Date with the Devil,Yountville CA Milton Art Museum, Spring Group Show, Canton MA Sanchez Art Center, Left Coast Annual, Pacifica CA Piedmont Art Center, Return to Simplicity, Piedmont CA 2012 Box Heart Gallery, 11th Annual Art Inter/National, Pittsburgh PA Brooklyn Art Library, The Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn NY Pacific Art League, Secret Gardens, Palo Alto CA Firehouse Arts Center, Fresh Works, Pleasanton CA 2011 A.I.R. Gallery, Wish You Were Here, Brooklyn NY 2010 Triton Museum of Art, Statewide Watercolor Competition, Santa Clara CA California Watercolor Association, 41st National Exhibition, San Francisco CA Studio Gallery, Tiny, San Francisco CA Selected Awards and Honors 2014 First Place, Slice, Pence Gallery, Davis CA
2013
2012
Carrie Lederer, Bedford Gallery Juror’s Exhibition Award, Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica CA Lucinda Barnes, Berkeley Art Museum and Film Archive Award of Merit, Return to Simplicity, Piedmont Art Center, Piedmont CA Rene de Guzman, Oakland Art Museum Best of Show, Secret Gardens, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto CA Richard Ambrose, Pacific Art League Award of Merit, Fresh Works, Firehouse Arts Center, Pleasanton CA Kim Anno, California College of the Arts,
Public Collections
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh PA
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