Ellen Brown -- Sculptor and Papercutter

"Sea Witch"

from a driftwood stump

Ellen Brown

Ellen Brown graduated from Philadelphia College of Art in 1942 a Crafts major with honors in Ceramics. In 1946 she studied sculpture at Alfred University in New York. She has done further study of both sculpture and pottery over the years.

She taught wood shop to boys aged 7 to 11 at the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood House in San Francisco. She taught pottery, sculpture and stage make-up for 35 years at Westtown School, where her husband was a mathematics teacher.

The Browns retired to Maine in 1986 and now live in Wiscasset.

Ellen is an artist member of the National League of American Pen Women. She has won awards in state and national shows of that organization. She is also a state-juried member of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen in pottery, sculpture and papercutting. She has had best-in-show awards and the craftsmen's vote in several state shows sponsored by the Guild.

Her work has been shown at the Kennedy Center, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Delaware Museum of Fine Art, Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, Chester County Art Association, Atlanta, Sacramento, and Boston, the Chocolate Church in Bath, the Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset, Round Top Center for the Arts in Damariscotta, Augusta, Colby College Craft Show, and Camden Arts and Crafts Fair. She is a member of the American Papercutters Guild, Maine Craft Association and the United Maine Craftsmen.

Ellen is a potter turned sculptor. She works in wood and stone as well as clay, which was her original medium.

"A Pile of Pigs or a Heap of Hogs
or a Line of Supine Swine.

Line and motion are important elements in her work, be it papercutting or sculpture. She captures the personality of her subjects with simplicity of line and gentle humor. Her love of nature and animals is reflected in much of her work.

"Otter Play"

"Geese on the Pond"

In 1987, her papercuttings were used to illustrate a book, Collected Poems, by Louis W. Flaccus.

Her "Beachcomer Collages" are unique assemblages of shells, sand, driftwood and trash collected from beaches of Casco Bay and other shorelines. In these abstract constructions the balance of color, texture and depth lend a three dimensional quality and a timelessness which is unusual.

"End Grain"