Ellen Koment

I have been painting for over fifty years. My first shown work was when I was a student at the HS of Music and Art in NYC, and a painting was on a poster in the subway. I then went on to Cooper Union Arts School and have a Masters in Art from UC Berkeley. But through all the various stages of my life, PAINTING HAS BEEN MY CONSTANT. It was oil painting of the figure and the Landscape through the years in CA, you can see many in a book that shows the collection of my work by Dr. Jack Leissring..called Ellen Koment: "The Internal Becomes the External". Then about 25 years ago, someone gave me some Wax, and I began to explore the ancient world of Encaustic, first landscapes and figures, but now probably best known for what has become to be called "Paper Pours", paintings which require an absolute presence to what you are doing.

I grew up amongst an extended family in Coney Island, and lived most of my childhood in New York. I was fortunate to go to two schools, the High School of Music and Art and then to The Cooper Union Art School in NYC, where MOMA and the Met were also my great teachers. When I moved to California to go to graduate school at UC Berkeley, with interest in the CA Figure Painters, I was fortunate to work with people like Elmer Bischoff and Joan Brown. But it was the CA landscape that opened new doors in my art. I still vividly remember my first trip up the coast of Northern California. The amazing landscape became part of my vision, and now here in New Mexico that is still the case. I spent twenty five years in Northern California, San Francisco and Sonoma County, before I moved to Santa Fe. I came here first as a resident at Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, fell in love with New Mexico and ten years later made it my home. I have always painted. I have shown my work nationally, beginning with an Emerging Artists show at the San Francisco MOMA and now in galleries around the country. I have won grants and awards, been in books and magazines. Had wonderful supportive collectors. This year I was awarded the 2018 Gottlieb Foundation Artist Grant. I feel fortunate.

2-D, Painting (all materials)