Ellen Langford is a painter whose body of work is inspired by landscapes, chance meetings, and the South’s mighty cross-currents. Ellen notices and captures the relationships between the land and its inhabitants – a child with his dog, a clothesline in the breeze, a figure with the landscape. We don’t only see them in her paintings, we feel that joyful connection.
Langford worked for years as a paramedic in central Mississippi. She became heavily influenced by the often tender narratives of her patients’ stories, as well as the quiet rituals that they incorporate into their lives. As the parent of a young boy herself, and owner of chickens and dogs, Ellen often incorporates children and animals into her compositions as she finds sweetness and vulnerability in their movements, as well as joy and adventure.
Native to Mississippi, Ellen has pursued academic studies in her craft in New York, San Francisco, DC, and Italy, among other places. However, her work took on its recognizable narrative quality when she returned to her home in the Deep South.
Langford’s painting process involves layers of paint, often sanded away and then glazed over, searching for shape and pattern, color, and texture, to build the story worlds her figures inhabit. (Bio courtesy of Betsy-Rose Weiss of the American Folk Art Gallery in Asheville, NC).
Education
New York Studio School, New York, NY: Drawing Marathon, June 2005
Maine College of Art, Khatadin Wilderness Painting, October 2004
La Escuela Sevilla, la Antigua Guatemala, 1996
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, 1994-1995
Colby College, Waterville, ME, 1990, BA Religion
Studio Art Centers International, Florence, Italy, spring, 1990
Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC, summer 1989
University of Southern Main, Stone Coast Writers’ Workshop, August 1989
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, 1987-1988, Studied painting under Jere Allen
Representation
Notable Exhibitions
Traveling, Multi-Artist Show, Stennis Flag Themed, Ongoing
Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Ocean Springs, MS, Gallery Talk/Workshop, 2019
Mississippi State University Union Gallery, Solo Show, 2019
Haven Gallery Jackson, MS, with Rachel Misenar, 2019
Pearl River Glass Gallery, Jackson, MS, Solo Show, 2018
Museum of the Mississippi Delta, with Lacey Johnson, 2018
E.E. Bass Center, with Bottle Tree Studios, 2018
The Cedars, Jackson, MS, with Scott Cook, 2017
Rosenzweig Arts Center Columbus, MS, Solo Show, 2016
Delta Arts Alliance, Cleveland, MS, Solo Show, 2016
American Folk, Asheville, NC, with Shawn Ireland, 2015
Fischer Gallery, Jackson, MS, Solo Show, 2014
Mississippi Children’s Museum, Solo Show, Visiting Artist, 2013
Mississippi Arts Commission, Solo Show, 2013
Hot Tin Roof Gallery, Memphis, TN, Solo Show, 2012
Doma Gallery, New York, NY, Solo Show, 2011
Turnrow Gallery, Greenwood, MS, with Robin Whitfield, 2010
Wye Mills, Maryland, Artist Residency, 2009
Collections
University of Mississippi Medical Center Permanent Collection: Library, Student Union, and Wiser Hospital for Women.
Late Mississippi Senator, Thad Cochran
Vicksburg, MS Mayor Lawrence Leyens
University of Massachusetts Associate Vice-Provost Joan Becker
Former White House and Camp David Interior Designer Joanne Bartlett
Former Chief Sound Engineer at Ford Motor Company, Alex Gorodisher
The Alluvian Hotel, Greenwood, MS
Award-winning journalist Casey Parks, of the New York Times, Glamour Magazine, and the Portland Oregonian
Various Private Collections nationally, as well as Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Thailand, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom
Teaching Workshops and Demonstrations
If you are interested in having me lead a workshop or give a talk/demonstration, please email me at contact@ellenlangford.com.
Awards
2021 Honored Artist: Mississippi State Committee, National Women in the Arts
2018 Woman of Vision Honoree, Women’s Foundation of Mississippi