Ellen Jewett

About

Ellen Jewett is a Canadian sculptor born in Markham, Ontario, known for her elaborately decorated polymer sculptures that combine wildlife with botanical elements in surrealist compositions. She completed her post-secondary education in 2007 with degrees in Anthropology and Fine Art from McMaster University, where her academic and artistic interests in biological subjects became intrinsically interwoven. Her artistic practice is informed by diverse professional experiences including medical illustration, exotic animal care, and teaching, as well as continued study in art and science through institutions like Haliburton School of the Arts and University of Guelph. Jewett began her career as a professional artist while still in high school and founded Creatures from El in 2005, which she pursued full-time after graduation. Her work explores themes of natural beauty, domestication, colonialism, death, growth, and wildness through a psychological lens, employing a surrealist approach that emphasizes unconscious narrative flow and organic relationships between forms. She is committed to using non-toxic, sustainable materials in her practice, often sourcing natural, local, and low-impact alternatives to commercially available art supplies. Over the past decade, Jewett's sculptures have achieved significant recognition, appearing in magazines such as American Scientist, Hi-Fructose, and American Craft, as well as international platforms including Salon Première Vision in Paris and The Nippon Television Network in Japan. Her work is featured in public and private collections worldwide, and one of her interviews has been selected for inclusion in the Lunar Codex culture archive on the moon.

Natural History Surrealism; Superrealist sculpture combining hyperrealistic animal forms with botanical and environmental elements, employing psychological and unconscious narrative approaches