About

Ellen Ornitz has been a practicing ceramic and mixed media artist for nearly fifty years in the Gallatin Valley. She earned a B.A. in Painting and Printmaking from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Masters in Secondary Art Education from the University of Indiana, Bloomington. She studied ceramics and sculpture with post-graduate work at Montana State University with John Buck and Akio Takamori.

Ornitz has exhibited her work throughout Montana in museums and galleries including exhibitions at the Missoula Art Museum, University of Montana, Yellowstone Art Museum, Holter Museum of Art, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Aunt Dofe's Hall of Recent Memory, Turman-Larison Gallery, Blackwood Salon and Radius Gallery. She was a finalist for the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.

Ornitz worked as the Curator of Exhibits and Education for the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture in Bozeman, Montana from 1997-2013, selecting exhibits of contemporary art and administrating the arts education and exhibits outreach programs. She served on the Board of the Montana Arts Council, the Museum and Art Gallery Directors Association and as an advisor to the Bozeman Sculpture Park. She also served as a juror for the Yellowstone Art Museum's annual art auction and for numerous student exhibits at Montana State University and the University of Montana. Since retirement Ornitz is delighted to focus on her studio work and garden.