Deborah Ellis effortlessly manipulates watercolor in her striking renditions of nature. Realistically rendered, her paintings impart an atmospheric nature as deep blues and earthy greens bleed into creamy white paper. The work exists as a moment of bliss: portraying serene ponds and blooming flowers which appear to ebb and flow across the paper. With a slight hand and observant eye, she paints an environment both cool and peaceful yet richly captivating. She states “the indirect view – memory and refraction – coalesces for me in ponds and sea, clouds, ice, glass, windows. Trees (solid and textured) and water (ephemeral and textured) are a large part of my subject matter. Watercolor, with its possibilities of hovering, layered washes, continues to fascinate me as my medium.”

Ellis received her Bachelor of Arts in Art History at Radcliffe College. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, where she has taught at The Art League since 1989. Her work is in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Library of Congress, Washington Post, all, Washington, DC; Markel Corporation, Reed Smith, Medical College of Virginia, McGuire Woods, and Sheltering Arms, all, Richmond, VA, among others.

Shona Macdonald received her MFA in 1996 in studio arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her BFA in 1992 from Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. She has held selected solo exhibitions at the McDonough Museum of Art, (2023), Zillman Art Museum, (2020-21), Brattleboro Art Center and Museum (2018), Roswell Art Museum, (2011), Tarble Arts Center (2015), Gridspace, (2014) Engine Room, Wellington, New Zealand, (2010), Proof Gallery, Boston, MA (2009), Reeves Contemporary, NY, NY (2008), Den Contemporary, LA, CA, (2007), Skestos-Gabriele, Chicago IL, (2005), Galerie Refugium, Berlin, Germany, (2002), and Fassbender Gallery, Chicago (1998 and 2000).  Two person exhibitions include the Ballina Art Center in Co, Mayo, Ireland (2022), Linden Sculpture Garden (2012), and Dayton Art Center (2018.)  Her work has been included in numerous group shows across the United States, UK, Australia, and Canada.  Reviews of her work are included in Art in America, Art News, the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Sacramento Bee, Boston Globe, Artscope, and New American Paintings.  She has been a Visiting Artist at over fifty institutions, including The University of Wyoming (2023), Georgia State University (2007), the University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary, Canada, (both 2002). Shona Macdonald is a 2009 recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation award.  She has been artist-in-residence at UCross, Ragdale, VCCA,  Roswell, (all USA) and internationally, at Can Serrat, Spain, the Cromarty Arts Trust, Scotland, and both Ballinglen and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Ireland.