Ellen Wallenstein is a photographer, collage artist and retired professor of art, living in Northwest Connecticut. She has a BA in Art History from Stony Brook University, and a MFA in Photography from Pratt Institute, where she taught for many years. Her teaching career also included the School of Visual Arts and the UT Austin Art department. Other professional experiences include artist-in-residence, photo archivist, curator, writer and tarot card reader. A New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Photography Fellow, her past work has been nominated for the Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography and the Santa Fe Prize. Her photographs, books, and ‘zines are in various collections and have been exhibited internationally. Since 2020, she has made daily cloth cyanotypes using animal figures, flora and assorted ephemera. They are made into quilts and prayer flags which she sends to her circle of friends. She shows her work at the Carter Burden Gallery in New York City.
Statement: I have always documented my surroundings and my day to day life, which since 2022 has been as an outpatient at Danbury Hospital Cancer Center. I have been through an operation, chemotherapy, radiation and other assorted “treatments”.Many of the rooms in the Infusion Suite are painted with murals and tromp l’ceil scenes. The intention of the art on the walls is to be beautiful and calming, which they are. It is good to be transported to another place while being tethered to an IV pole.
