Ellen Richman

Ellen Richman is a abstract painter who was born in Minneapolis, MN in 1964.

She studied at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis in the deptartment of design before receiving her BFA from the department of fine art in 1995.

Upon graduation she continued her color studies in Playa del Carmen, Q.Roo Mexico for several years, where her paintings were informed by the full spectrum of light. Color became the singular defining element in her work as she continued to experiment with saturated hues and chromatic divergence.

Ellen returned to Minnesota and became faculty at Minnetonka Center for the Arts. There she developed an abstract painting program based on her formalist ideas. She has been teaching since 2006. Her work has been exhibited, published and collected locally, nationally and internationally.

Ellen employs a reductive form of abstraction which emphasizes the plasticity and two-dimensionality in painting. Considerations of the visual elements color, form and space drive the meaning of her work. It interests her how this universal language continues to be an exploration. Informed by geometric and organic patterns everywhere, Ellen is inspired by how the interaction of color affects mood, emotion and the subconscious mind. Her intent is to create an effective minimal structured image of unencumbered space.