Ellen Elmes

In her profession as a watercolorist and mural painter for 35 years, Ellen Elmes continues to give visual voice to her love of life and natural beauty. Her watercolors have originated from themes on her home turf in the Appalachian mountains, in the Scottish highlands while on sabbatical, and responses in her heart to family life, seasonal and human cycles, and political issues of community and global concern. Ellen has exhibited and sold her watercolor work extensively in the middle Atlantic states.

As an art instructor at Southwest Virginia Community College, Ellen spent a sabbatical year in Aberdeen, Scotland, resulting in the production of a series of watercolors entitled Scotland & Appalachia: Parallel Visions. These works were shown in Scotland, and became a traveling exhibition in 1996-97 throughout Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. "I have the opportunity to apply the function that I believe art serves in society and the world at large. Art is a language that allows us to share and communicate the essence of being human. Through my teaching and creating of art I am blessed to participate in such vital human dialogue."

She is a full-time art instructor at SW Virginia Community College in Richlands, VA and has taught watercolor classes internationally. Ellen has painted nine acrylic murals in collage-style narratives about the histories of Richlands, VA, Kingsport, TN, Western Maryland College, Gettysburg College, United Methodist churches, coal mining in southwest Virginia, transportation in Wheeling, WV, and the art and science of western medicine.