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Ellen Holtzblatt explores the profound connections between the physical and spiritual worlds – the memories of the body that reside in the soul. Her recent series of paintings and drawings, Song of Songs, are portraits of her 100 year-old mother that explore feelings of isolation and the human need for touch and intimacy. Landscape becomes an allegory for psyche and emotion, evolution and decay. Through her art, she seeks to embody the power and vulnerability of mind and body, and the ever-present passage of time.
Holtzblatt exhibits internationally and nationally. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, Baer Art Center in Iceland, Park Avenue Synagogue in New York, The Center for Book Arts in New York, and the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection in Chicago. Holtzblatt has been awarded artist residencies in the U.S. and Iceland. She was a fellow with the Amen institute in 2021, and an artist resident with the Chicago Artists Coalition in 2020/21. Holtzblatt has received multiple grants from the Illinois Arts Council and City of Chicago. She earned degrees in Visual Art and Art Therapy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an M.Ed. from UIC. Holtzblatt lives and works in Chicago.
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
Vestiges of the Tide (2-person show), Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI
A World Without Time: Portraits of the Artist’s Mother, St. Xavier University, Chicago, IL
Raw (2-person show), Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL
Translucent Beauty and Other Guardians (2 person show) Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago
Between Earth and Sky, Robert F. DeCaprio Art Gallery, Palos Hills, IL
Intuitive Hemispheres (2 person show), Agitator Gallery, Chicago, IL
A Passing Day: Land and Light, Fermilab Art Gallery, Batavia, IL
Prairie and Tundra, The Jewish Federation of St. Joseph, South Bend, IN
Under the Sun: Landscape As Allegory, Harold Washington Library, Chicago, IL
From Birth to Memory, Josef Glimer Gallery, Chicago, IL
Memory and Birds, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Birds From the Field Museum, Harold Washington Library, Chicago, IL
Selected Group Exhibitions
19th Annual Regional Juried Exhibition, Freeport Art Museum, Freeport, IL
Generations: Thirty Years of Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
5th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, WI
Survey 2: HATCH Residency Exhibit, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
Evanston + Vicinity Biennial, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
Relative Relationships, Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College, New York, NY
i am. an immigrant, The Institut fur Alles Mogliche, Berlin, Germany
From Here to There (4 person show), Spertus Institute, Chicago, IL
Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth, Jerusalem Biennale 2017, Jerusalem, Israel
Far From the Front Lines, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
Voices of Wisdom, Spertus Institute, Chicago, IL
The Rockford Midwestern Biennial, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL
Memory (4 person show), Christopher Art Gallery, Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL
Women of the Book, Jerusalem Biennale 2015, The First Station, Jerusalem, Israel
Fields of Dreams, Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY
MAAT 30th Anniversary Celebration Invitational Exhibition, SAIC, LeRoy Neiman Center,
Chicago, IL
As Subject and Object: Contemporary Book Artists Explore Ancient Hebrew Texts, Museum of Biblical Art, New York, NY
Multiple, Limited, Unique: Highlights from the Permanent Collection of the Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
Zerstreut in Alle Welt, Inselgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Website: www.ellenholtzblatt.com
Instagram: @ellenholtzblatt
Email: ellenholtzblatt@gmail.com
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ellenholtzblatt@gmail.com
