As a narrative artist and documentarian, Ellen M. Blalock started quilting over twenty years ago to symbolically replace stolen family quilts. Her current series, “Not Crazy,” focuses on trauma and mental illness in the African American community.
Working in several mediums, including photography, film, quilting, and drawing, Blalock’s main goal is to tell the stories of people who have been marginalized. She is particularly interested in the African diaspora and female identity and power.
Blalock has recently taught at Syracuse University and also taught art history and studio arts as a visiting professor at Georgia Southern University, Georgia College & State University, and Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, NY.
Blalock has exhibited her work in at 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, among others, and has been the recipient of awards, grants, and fellowships.
She was an Artist-in- Residence at Light Work and Quilting by the Lake, in Syracuse, NY, and received several CNYArts and NYSCA art grants. She also received NYS Associated Press awards in journalism during her two decades as a multimedia journalist.