Ellen Scobie.
The digital camera may be a relatively new artistic tool, but the tradition of montage, practised by artists for decades, is at the foundation of my methodology. I work by combining layers of imagery of various media, translating into the digital realm the process I was familiar with in traditional fine art lithography. I am captivated by the immediacy of digital imagery and the endless ways it can be probed, mined, mutated and transfigured in the service of image-making. In my work I explore places of memory, real and imagined. My goal is to create aesthetically harmonious artwork from these many places of inspiration, although I am particularly fascinated by environments — psychological and physical — that reveal the transformative power of the passage of time.
BIO
Ellen Scobie was born and raised on Vancouver Island. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Art History) from the University of Manitoba where she also trained in fine art lithography print-making. Other formal education includes fine art studies at the University of Victoria and the London College of Printing, England. After an early career in graphic design in Spain and later in marketing communications with a prominent architectural firm in Vancouver, Ellen turned her attention to her own art in 2006. Her current work centres on urban and natural landscapes and non-representational digital photo constructions. Inspired by the patterns and textural beauty of nature as well as the multi-sensorial impact of urban spaces, Ellen seeks to create a visual narrative of her places of memory. The artist has one daughter and lives with her husband in Burnaby, BC.
