Artist Talk – Quilting Stories: The Narrative and the Design

Left: Ellen M. Blalock, Bang Bang You Dead, quilt, commercial cotton fabric, 2019, 44″ x 43”
Right: Ellen M. Blalock, Middle Passage: America’s Legacy, quilt, hand painted silk and nonwoven pellon on canvas, 2020, 56 ¼” x 52”

Join fiber artist Ellen M. Blalock for a virtual artist talk on Thursday, December 2 at 5:30pm MST! Blalock will share how she develops her ideas into quilts, with the discussion focusing on recent work she has completed in the last two years and the quilts she is currently working on in her studio. Blalock is the juror for this year’s Art Quilts exhibition at Vision Gallery and the Chandler Center for the Arts, Stitching Stories.

Ellen M. Blalock started quilting over 20 years ago to replace what was taken from her family. As a narrative artist and documentarian, she works in several mediums: quilting, photography, film/video, and drawing. Her main goal is to tell the stories of people that have been marginalized. She is particularly interested in female identity and power and the African diaspora.

Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Blalock now lives in Syracuse, NY. She has a B.F.A. from Temple University and M.F.A. from Syracuse University. She lectures on art/quilting, race and social issues. She has taught art history and studio arts at colleges and universities: Syracuse University, Georgia Southern University, Georgia College & State University, and Onondaga Community College.

Her art quilts have been exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions, including: Gibbs Museum, Charleston, SC; Bundy Museum, Binghamton, NY; Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY; Natural History Museum, Los Angeles, CA; The African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA and Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY.

Blalock has received several awards, grants, fellowships and residencies and she serves on the Syracuse Public Arts Commission. You can learn more about her via her website.