Art & Life with Ellen Cantor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellen Cantor.

Ellen, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I am originally from Chicago and have lived in the South Bay for many years. Photography is my third career, the first two being teaching and interior design. The skills I developed during my earlier professions have helped me to express myself through visual imagery.

My photographic journey began rather by accident, when my husband and I traveled, he would always take the photographs. Occasionally, on trips, I would take a few pictures. When we came home, I once commented “My photos are better than yours.” He challenged me to learn to use a camera properly and thus I have Norm to thank for my photographic career! It has taken me in unexpected directions and added a new dimension to my life.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I am a fine art digital photographer. My genre is conceptual still life. My photographs are deeply personal and universal at the same time. My images are about time, and memory. By photographing and re-contextualizing precious mementos I have sought to understand how life proceeds and then, ultimately, disappears. I document the artifacts of the past in order to enrich the present. I am inspired by the things I have collected and objects and photographs from the past.

Photography has taken me to a place that I never imagined. I am still amazed that images of my possessions, what’s inside my front door, my garage, and in my drawers have traveled all over the world finding connections that speak to our universal need to remember and honor our personal histories. In today’s technological world

I hope to offer photographs that answer the basic question— “What does our past mean to us– as individuals, as families, and as a community?”

Do you think conditions are generally improving for artists? What more can cities and communities do to improve conditions for artists?
It is always difficult to make ends meet for artists. Cities can help to provide safe community spaces for artists to work and live. I have a post it that says “Don’t Give Up” to remind me how important art has been in my life.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Visit my website: www.ellencantorphotography.com

FRESH 2018
curated by Fatemah Barnes and Peter Frank
SBC/SOLA Gallery, 3718 W. Slauson, Los Angeles, 90043
Opening Reception, June 2, 4-7
Collage workshop using vintage photographs on Saturday, June 16 at 2. All materials supplied
I will be exhibiting photographs from the series “VISUAL DNA…the language of photographs.

FRESH 2018, curated by Fatemah Barnes and Peter Frank
SBC/SOLA Gallery, 3718 W/ Slauson, Los Angeles, CA 90043
Opening Reception Saturday, June 12, 2018 4-6

FRESH 2018 curated by Fatemah Barnes and Peter Frank
SBC/SOLA 3718 W. Slauson Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90043
Opening Saturday, June 12-4-7; workshop Saturday, June 16 at 2pm
I will be exhibiting photographs from the series VISUAL DNA…the language of photographs.”

BREAD AND SALT
Curated by Georgia Freedman-Harvey
This exhibit explores contemporary historic and ritual aspects about fusc Hillel Art Gallery, 3300 S. Hoover Street, Los Angeles, CA 9007
I am exhibiting “Mom and the Meatballs”

Visit the historic Hotel Figueroa, 939 S. Figueroa, Los Angeles, CA 90015
to see 2 photographs from the “Prior Pleasures” series.
“The Latch Key” is in the guest rooms and “Black Beauty” is in the hallways

I will be exhibiting “Dichotomy” at the new space dnj gallery, 3021-6 Ocean Park Boulevard, Santa Monica, 90405. Information coming soon, Additional photographs from “Prior Pleasures” can be seen at EPS-Cineworks by appt appointment only. Contact dnj gallery.

The Los Angeles Center of Photography online gallery will be exhibiting “I Have No Way of Seeing The 1 and 2” from the series “Letting Go/Holding Back.” Exhibit opens online May 25. www.lacphoto.org

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.ellencantorphotography.com
• Email: ellen@ellencantor.com
• Instagram: cantorbird1
• Facebook: www.facebook/ellendavidsoncantor
• Twitter: EllenCantor1

Image Credit:
All images ©Ellen Cantor

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