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Ellen Harvey (far right) discusses her work
at Youth Insights' Artists + Youth: A Dialogue with
Andrew, Nikki, Aida and Sydnee. |
Ellen Harvey
The second Artist + Youth: a Dialogue for the 2002-2003
Youth Insights year hosted Ellen Harvey on February 13,
2003. Her work was displayed in Ellen Harvey: A Whitney for
the Whitney at Philip Morris, an exhibition on view at the
Whitney Museum at Altria (formerly known as Philip Morris). It featured
394 scaled replica paintings of works from the Whitney Museum's
Permanent Collection since its opening in 1931. In addition, seven
recent Whitney contemporary acquisitions are shown with cut boxes
in the walls to view the works which are by Jim Campbell, Luis Gispert,
Robert Lazzarini, Paul McCarthy, Paul Pfeiffer, Hirsch Perman, and
Jim Shaw.
Ellen Harvey was born in England. Her education started in Harvard
College in 1989. In 1990, she attended a school in Berlin, Germany
and moved on to Yale Law School in 1993. As far as her education
in the art field goes, she is a graduate of Whitney Museum's Independent
Study Program, which provides a setting within which students pursuing
art practice, curatorial work, and critical writing engage in on-going
discussions and debates that examine the historical, social, and
intellectual conditions of artistic production.
Ellen Harvey works primarily with painting and other traditional
media, using the popular view of painting as the model "art"
experience to explore larger public expectations for art. She has
participated in a number of solo and in-group exhibitions in New
York, Italy, and Korea. She has been involved in many projects including
the New York Beautification Project which combines ideas of landscape
painting and graffiti art.
RESPONSES/OPINIONS OF YOUTH INSIGHTS PARTICIPANTS:
Aida: "Before this dialogue I had never heard of Ellen Harvey,
but by the end she had become one of my favorite, if not my favorite
artist. Ellen to me is unique because you can almost see every aspect
of her personality through her art. Ellen's art deals with everyday
life and everyday people. So literally anyone can relate to her
work. She does everything from portraiture to graffiti. My most
memorable experience with her was at her studio. How many artists
do you know that will invite fifteen teenagers that they have never
met to go behind the scenes and experience their personal working
atmosphere? Not only has Ellen allowed us to get to know her as
an artist but as a person, as one of us."
Andrew: "Before the Ellen Harvey dialogue, we'd met her once
in person, at her studio in Williamsburg. While there she had introduced
herself and her art as an extremely friendly, ever jovial manner.
What immediately struck me about the dialogue was the consistency
of her attitude, even in a formal environment. At the dialogue still
was the same old optimistic, verbose Ellen. We really got the sense
that she didn't put on airs at all, that she was down to earth and
like us. I feel that our understanding of artists and their motives
are greatly supplemented by the Artist + Youth Dialogues.
Who knew Ellen Harvey was nearly arrested while creating one of
her featured pieces, or that people brought sandwiches during the
making of the same piece? These anecdotes and general understanding
of an artist's state of mind are not achievable simply through research,
and it is this that makes Artist + Youth Dialogues so invaluable.
They allow for a connection to be made with all art."
Namrata: "This was the second dialogue that I have moderated
at Whitney Museum's Altria (formerly known as Philip Morris) now
as a second year Youth Insight. From the past dialogue
with Larry Krone, I learned what worked
and what didn't in that environment. Pertaining to Ellen Harvey
and her presence at the dialogue, she was great. Her friendly and
welcoming attitude definitely made the dialogue run smoothly and
as planned. She gave a clear understanding of her work and told
us things that we couldn't have known unless if we had talked to
her. Overall, the dialogue went very well and I noticed from the
audience response that it was very much enjoyable as well."
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Ellen Harvey discusses her work at Youth
Insights' Artists + Youth: A Dialogue as Andrew looks
on. |
Sydnee: "The Ellen Harvey dialogue was really intriguing.
Researching about her craft and style was really amazing. It was
especially important that I got a chance to work closely with Ellen
Harvey and my other co-workers. I really liked the New York Beautification
Project that she showed us in her studio. While going into the dialogue,
she went into further detail about the Beautification Project and
her other works. Ellen Harvey is an amazing artist and quite friendly.
Considering how artists have different clichés, she really
broke the boundary between them all."
©
2003 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
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