Ellen Driscoll

Ellen Driscoll
Born1953
Boston, Massachusetts, US
EducationColumbia University, Wesleyan University
Known forSculpture, installation art, public art, drawing
SpouseSteven Manning
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship, Anonymous Was a Woman Award, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, National Endowment for the Arts
WebsiteEllen Driscoll
Ellen Driscoll, FastForwardFossil; Part 2, #2 harvested plastic, 30'L x 7'H x 14'W, 2009, Smack Mellon.

Ellen Driscoll (born 1953) is a New York-based American artist, whose practice encompasses sculpture, drawing, installation and public art.[1][2][3] She is known for complex, interconnected works that explore social and geopolitical issues and events involving power, agency, transition and ecological imbalance through an inventive combination of materials, technologies (rudimentary to digital), research and narrative.[4][5][6] Her artwork often presents the familiar from unexpected points of view—bridging different eras and cultures or connecting personal, intimate acts to global consequences—through visual strategies involving light and shadow, silhouette, shifts in scale, metaphor and synecdoche.[5][7][8] In 2000, Sculpture critic Patricia C. Phillips wrote that Driscoll's installations were informed by "an abiding fascination with the lives and stories of people whose voices and visions have been suspended, thwarted, undermined, or regulated."[2] Discussing later work, Jennifer McGregor wrote, "Whether working in ghostly white plastic, mosaic, or walnut and sumi inks, [Driscoll's] projects fluidly map place and time while mining historical, environmental, and cultural themes."[1]

Driscoll has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Anonymous Was a Woman, and National Endowment for the Arts, among others.[9][5][10][11] She has exhibited at venues including the Whitney Museum at Phillip Morris,[12] New-York Historical Society,[13] Boston Center for the Arts, Contemporary Arts Center,[14] and Smack Mellon.[8] Her work belongs to public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art[15] and Whitney Museum.[16]

  1. ^ a b McGregor, Jennifer. "Fluid Perspectives: Ellen Driscoll," Sculpture, October 1, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Phillips, Patricia C. "The Proportions of Paradox: The Work of Ellen Driscoll," Sculpture, November 2000.
  3. ^ Princenthal, Nancy. "Ellen Driscoll," Art in America, June 1995.
  4. ^ Koplos, Janet. "Ellen Driscoll's Passages," Art in America, June 2000.
  5. ^ a b c Riley, Jan. "Finding Resonant Details in a Big Picture: A Conversation with Ellen Driscoll," Sculpture, January 1, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  6. ^ Kaplan, Cheryl. On the Waterfront: An Interview with Ellen Driscoll by Cheryl Kaplan, Spokes Press, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  7. ^ Hagen, Charles. "When the Outside World is Danger," The New York Times, December 27, 1991. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Dykstra, Jean. "Ellen Driscoll and Fernando Souto, Smack Mellon," Art in America, January 2010.
  9. ^ John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Ellen Driscoll, Fellows. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  10. ^ Anonymous Was a Woman. "Recipients to Date." Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  11. ^ Ivey, Bill, Nancy Princenthal and Jennifer Dowley. A Creative Legacy: A History of the National Endowment of the Arts, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001.
  12. ^ Melrod, George. "Ellen Driscoll at the Whitney Museum at Philip Morris," Art in America, June 1992.
  13. ^ Cotter, Holland. "At Historical Society, Emancipation Remains a Work in Progress," The New York Times, June 20, 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  14. ^ Temin, Christine. "Ellen Driscoll," The Boston Globe, February 1993.
  15. ^ The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lost Geography, 1987, Ellen Driscoll, Collection. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  16. ^ Whitney Museum. Ellen Driscoll, Zoetrope driven by iron shoes on wheels, 1990, Collection. Retrieved August 26, 2022.