Artist - Ellen Scott

Ellen Scott is an artist, designer, consultant, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of 4-Dimensional Design at Pratt Institute. After five years of corporate consulting and software project management, Ellen switched gears to focus on the intersection of art and technology. Her artwork spans different media and dimensions and has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Portland, and Beijing. She has a wide range of experience in creative, commercial, and nonprofit endeavors, including Games for Change, a nonprofit cultivating digital games for social change. Ellen is also the co-founder and director of Smartspaces, a New York-based nonprofit presenting contemporary art in the windows of vacant storefronts.

Ellen stopped in Boise for a week and spent some time on the Boise State campus. During her lecture I learned how "interactive" of an artist she really is. Her current work consists of plexi-glass panels with the image of just the back side of a person on either side. During her lecture she showed captured images from students of BSU and how she was going to be opening a new exhibit using these new pieces.

Part of her explanation of her plexi art was that by showing only the back side of a person, we lose the ability to connect. We often look to the face to learn something about the other person, or even about ourselves. I took the thought even further in remembering the saying that "the eyes are the gateway to the soul". By denying the ability to see the complete individual in three dimensional space we are essentially cut off from knowing anything about them.

The concept is very interesting and simple. I've found that some of the best and most inspirational art leaves me wondering, "why didn't I think of that". In some instances I have, but not on as deep a level and hadn't explored the thought enough to consider it art. At any rate, here are a few pics from her website which can be found here:

www.ellenscott.com/es