Biography
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 Born the daughter of an artist, she grew up drawing daily and creating a visual journal of stories.
- Ellen was educated by her father who was a practicing artist, who gallery hopped every Sunday in Washington, D.C. where they lived.
- His ardent gallery attendance, and the myriad of books on impressionists and contemporary artists of the 50's and the 60's influenced her.
- Groomed by the artist books of the Renaissance and Impressionists which were her fathers' favorites, she developed, at an early age, an eye for drawing people and often got paid to do portraits in high school and college.
- However, when her father died suddenly, her mother's family influenced her education strongly encouraging her in a more practical direction.
- Even though art was a big part of her life, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Psychology at Salve Regina University, a private college in Newport, Rhode Island.
- After spending years doing portraits, she began developing her own artistic process with ink and the use of the fewest tools as possible out of a need for simplicity.
- Her first attempt had been published in her college yearbook when she was in her senior year at Salve Regina University (She was assistant editor at the time).
- She did not attempt duplicating that particular effort until she had moved to Minnesota and was fueling a desire to do art in her own way.
"The brush and paper felt organic and primitive but it mirrored the transition of my own life to let go of traditional rules in order to find my own voice. It seemed that beginning with paper and ink was what I needed. That dialogue with ink and brush on paper was initially both intentional and intuitive. However, as the brush strokes and mark making revealed movement, and energy it created a dialogue of its own. I found myself continually challenged to create more out of what seemed to be less. "
Ellen Schillace currently resides in the Twin Cities. She has a daughter in St. Paul and a son in Alaska.
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