Ellen Paisley
Belmont-Redwood Shores School District
Art Teacher
Art Teacher
Artist's Statement
I’m interested in dysfunction and things that don’t work. I prefer to paint something that is what I think it looks like versus what it really looks like. For a long time my art has been about useless obsessions and tools that might help you, but don’t work very well. The last several years I have pursued a series about spying. My background is actually in sculpture, but teaching makes that next to impossible, so I paint and draw.
Artist's Bio
I moved to Oakland from Phoenix, Arizona to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts back when it still had the C. After graduating I lived in a warehouse in East Oakland and pursued my art career. I moved to Chicago in 1990 to attend the School of the Art Institute and earned a graduate degree. I moved back to Oakland and still live here, happily married.
I have done just about any art-related job you can imagine, making pottery, painting billboards, quick and dirty murals in restaurants, faux-finishes, making theater and movie props. I have been teaching art to both children and adults for about 35 years, the last 25 in public middle schools in Bay Point and Belmont.