Shelley Ellis
Shelley is a Charlotte native, a Mint Hill native actually, graduate of Independence High School. Graduate of Central Piedmont Community College, where she studied studio art. After having two diverse careers she had the opportunity to go back to school and finish her Bachelor’s degree. She attended UNC Charlotte, where she studied every class she could fit in her schedule, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in both Ceramics and Painting. She went on to earn her MFA in Ceramic Sculpture concurred with honors at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.
She has been working as an adjunct professor since 2009, currently at UNC Charlotte, where she has been teaching since 2010. She teaches ceramics, art foundations, liberal studies, senior seminar and freshman seminar on college success.
Her current body of work is a series of assemblages. Seeking to bring awareness to injustices against women, her subject matter may initially be uncomfortable. However, it is an avenue to dialogue, to address the seemingly unspeakable, and to speak for those that are incapable, unable, or prevented from speaking for themselves. She looks to engage with the community to create work and tell the stories of others. She been collecting dryer lint and stories from women for years and looks to continue this process that will culminate in a body of work.
She is a woman, a daughter, an only child, a grand-daughter, a niece, a student, a talker, an observer, a confidante, a counselor, a thinker, a worrier, a mentor, a teacher, a listener, a lover, a wife, a southerner, a survivor, a highly sensitive person, too sensitive perhaps. But one thing remains constant, she cannot remember a time when she did not make things. She an artist.
