ELLEN MARIE BLAZICH
Portland, Oregon
Painter and multidisciplinary artist living in Portland, OR
Message
Ellen Blazich is a painter from Seattle, WA and currently works and lives in SE Portland, Oregon. At age ten she sold her first large acrylic triptych painting to a collector. In 2011 she graduated from the University of Washington with a BFA in painting and drawing. Since then she has expanded her practice into clay and fabrics and sold work all over the world. In 2019 she started a pottery studio in her home. In 2021 she joined the Ones Shop Collective as an eight month resident. She shows work around town including Ily2too, the Fresh Pot on Hawthorne.
Statement
As a multidisciplinary artist, my main roots are in painting. I always knew I was a painter and began seriously painting in childhood with the generous support of my painter mother.
My approach to painting is guided by the push and pull of space through color. I never plan my paintings and they can change a lot from start to finish. I try to let mistakes occur and hope to continually surprise myself. Faces and figures appear and fade throughout my work as I'm usually unsatisfied without these recognizable forms. Despite this, I approach the paintings more like abstract works. I like thinking about the relationships of color and form in each painting. Although the quick transformation that can happen at each stage of the painting keeps me continually motivated and emotionally engaged, I also spend a lot of time looking at the work.
I constantly and obsessively explore my materials (pigments, binders, dyes, etc). Expanding to other media clay, sewing, and fabric dyeing has lead me to grow and witness creative connections among the disciplines which deepens my experience.