Ellen Eagle

STATEMENT

I paint portraits in pastel. My portraits evolve slowly, during a series of sittings. I don't like to talk much when I work. I like my model to almost forget I am there. Inevitably, during the course of the sittings as the model drifts deeper into his or her own thoughts, he or she experiences deeply felt emotions. And though I respond to the body's genuine expression of those emotions, I am aware that he or she is engaged in private thoughts to which I am not privy.

I strive to express my response through acute observation. Fidelity to my subject's particular qualities is very important to me. Of course, I see through the filter of my own temperament.

I always work in natural light. The most exquisite expression of light I have seen is in the radiance of flesh. The timeless and fleeting human subject as seen in the eternal and everchanging natural light.

Ellen Eagle


Education:

California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California; BFA With Distinction in Drawing;

The Art Students League of New York

National Academy School of Fine Arts

Daniel Greene Workshop

High School of Music and Art

Primary Teacher Harvey Dinnerstein

Selected Awards and Honors:

2010 Honor Award, Inspiring Figures Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art

2008 Residency Fellowship Vermont Studio Center

2007 Dodge Foundation Full Residency Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center

2007, 2004 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant

2004 Panelist: "Figure Painting in the 21st Century"; Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, New York

2004 Juror of Selection, Pastel Division, Audobon Artists Annual Exhibition

1999 Phyllis Mason Grant, Art Students League of New York

1998 Dr. Clifford Wheeler Mills Award, Allied Artists Juried Exhibtion

Art Students League Award; Audobon Artists Annual Juried Exhibition

© Ellen Eagle

Ellen Eagle

''I paint portraits in pastel. My portraits evolve slowly, during a series of sittings. I don't like to talk much when I work. I like my model to almost forget I am there. Inevitably, during the course of the sittings as the model drifts deeper into his or her own thoughts, he or she experiences deeply felt emotions. And though I respond to the body's genuine expression of those emotions, I am aware that he or she is engaged in private thoughts to which I am not privy.

I strive to express my response through acute observation. Fidelity to my subject's particular qualities is very important to me. Of course, I see through the filter of my own temperament.

I always work in natural light. The most exquisite expression of light I have seen is in the radiance of flesh. The timeless and fleeting human subject as seen in the eternal and everchanging natural light.''

Ellen Eagle



Education:

California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California; BFA With Distinction in Drawing;

The Art Students League of New York

National Academy School of Fine Arts

Daniel Greene Workshop

High School of Music and Art

Primary Teacher Harvey Dinnerstein