As a narrative artist and documentarian, Ellen M. Blalock works in several mediums: quilting, photography, film/ video, drawing, and installation.
“I am an artist with a mission. I believe my job is to be a conduit to listen and tell the stories of people that need to be heard and represented; the ones who lives and experiences have been marginalized. I am interested in the African diaspora, particularly the African American experience in the United States.”
Originally from Philadelphia, PA, she currently lives in Syracuse, NY. She has a BFA from Temple University and MFA from Syracuse University. She has taught art history and studio arts at Syracuse University, Georgia Southern University, Georgia College & State University, SUNY Oswego, and/or Onondaga Community College.
Her art has been exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions, including: Gibbs Museum, Charleston, SC; Bundy Museum, Binghamton, NY; Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY; Natural History Museum, Los Angeles, CA; The African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA; and Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY.
After more than two decades, Blalock left her job as an award winning multimedia journalist at New York Media Group (syracuse.com and The Post-Standard) to focus all her time on making art.
Blalock has received several awards, grants, fellowships and residencies, including the Light Work residency, Syracuse, NY; and SUNY Oswego’s first artist-in-residence. She is currently the artist-in-residence at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn which is supported by the Creatives Rebuild New York fellowship from the Andrew Mellon Foundation.