About The Artist

Ell Treese (They/Them) is a 25 year old non-binary lesbian artist born in Dayton, OH. They graduated with a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from VCUarts in 2020 and they are currently located in San Diego, CA. Their energetic and vibratory abstractions and surrealist landscapes focus on the complexities of multidimensional queer identity. Their inner child expressions by way of color, symbols, and their intuitive abilities are their artistic language and a tool for creation.

CV:

  • Graduated Magna Cum Laude

  • Most Outstanding Sophomore for the VCUarts painting department in 2017

  • Exhibited work locally, nationally, and internationally in group shows, art markets, and Pride events in cities such as; Richmond, Denver, San Diego, and Berlin (where they studied abroad in the summer of 2018)

  • Published in local newspapers like the LGBTQ San Diego County News, Canvas Rebel, ShoutOut SoCal and internationally with Circle Arts.

  • Studio artist at The Studio Door Gallery in Hillcrest for 2.5 years before moving into their own private studio in University Heights

  • Hosted workshops at San Diego’s SheFest and The Studio Door teaching their community the healing power of creativity and abstraction with a sketchbook practice

  • Teaching Artist with ARTS on Campus at A Reason To Survive (ARTS) creating a curriculum and teaching art to students 3-6th grade at a elementary school in National City

Favorite Things:

Star Wars, Spongebob, tide pools, fossils, sacred geometry, portals, tree tunnels, exploring, details, shells, cuddling with my partner and cat, cooking, and more!

Favorite Artists:

Georgia O’Keeffe, Hilma af Klint, Agnes Pelton, Joan Miro, Ernst Haeckel, M.C Escher, Judy Chicago, Paul Reynard, Leonora Carrington, Helen Frankenthaler, Antoni Gaudi, and more!

Artist Statement

My art practice is process based and intuitive. I let the paintings flow through me and I follow along. These works inform works that come after and even before. I use the paintings to take a deeper look into my subconscious, the energies present in a certain fleeting moment, and the complexities of identity in a collective consciousness. Abstraction and macro views of objects I am drawn to (both of this world and not) is the way my soul manifests my pieces. I like to create portals into a parallel universe using abstraction, arches, and sacred geometric patterns. I think about how one decision, from one person, at one moment in time, creates a whole new reality where the opposite action of that decision plays out. Our particles are simply rearranged, and what makes up these particles (like how paint makes up a painting) remains the same. This is queer to me. The abstractions that come out of my subconscious through my hand and onto the surface are decisions that are told through visual language and sacred creative energy. I hope my paintings can start a conversation about our inherent non-binary souls, our place in the Multiverse, and the universal creativity and love that lives in all of us.