Ellen Stavitsky was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1951. She earned a Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a M.F.A. in Painting from Pratt Institute. On her honeymoon in Japan, she was inspired by the elegant minimalism and restraint of Japanese art, architecture, and design. Her early collages combined handmade paper, Chinese joss paper, collograph prints on rice paper, thread, fabric, and pages from old books to form delicately layered compositions. A critic described these collages as “deeply focused and mutely distanced, each one carefully assembled by an eye of subtle concentration and emotion. Stavitsky’s work invites the close contemplation of the thoughtful and unhurried viewer. It contains treasures.”

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