Lena Ellis-Boatman
Assistant Professor
BFA, Bowling Green State University; MFA, Michigan State University
Ellis-Boatman’s work explores our ideas about the natural world and how human systems of knowledge shape our realities. Using plant life to reference the natural world and our human experiences of the sublime, Ellis-Boatman uses installation to create a similar embodied experience within a constructed microcosm. Xyr focus lies on the interplay between the material world, the fluid worlds of our imaginations, and the human-made knowledge systems which structure our diverse daily experiences.
Research Interests: Worldviews, construction of knowledge, history, narrative, internal landscapes, dreamscapes, fiction, early modern natural philosophy and cosmology, folklore, myth, archetypal characters, and saints. Additional long-term interests include gender/ed, feminist, and queer identities; magic realism; medieval literature; and “women’s work.”
Professional Experience
A Michigan-based artist and art educator, Lena B. Ellis-Boatman studied art education for three years before completing a BFA in printmaking and painting at Bowling Green State University. Serving in AmeriCorps, xé worked in a shared placement at the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo and the Toledo School for the Arts, coordinating a gallery and an art-and-entrepreneurship afterschool program, and working directly with youth artists in a summer employment program. Ellis-Boatman began graduate studies at Michigan State University as a fellowship recipient, teaching Foundations courses as the instructor of record. After graduating with xyr MFA in printmaking, Ellis-Boatman taught as an Assistant Professor at Michigan State from 2015 to 2019, teaching foundations and upper-level printmaking courses. During that time, xé also worked as a manager and copy editor at a nonprofit which publishes a print magazine for a segment of the LGBTQ community. Since 2020, Ellis-Boatman has taught courses in printmaking, fibers, and foundations at Washtenaw Community College, Saginaw Valley State University, and Adrian College, as well as teaching workshops and community classes for youth and adults. In 2023, Ellis-Boatman was hired at College for Creative Studies as Visiting Assistant Professor and Section Lead of Printmaking.
Significant Publications, Presentations and Exhibitions
Really BIG PRINTS 5.0 | Exhibition of street-roller relief prints
Organizers: Berel Lutsky (Prof. Emeritus, UW-Manitowoc), Katie Ries (St. Norbert
College), and Stephanie Carpenter (Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum)
• Rahr-West Art Museum | Manitowoc, WI | July 30 – Sept 17, 2023
Life in the Abstract: Washtenaw Community College Faculty Exhibition
Morris Lawrence Art Gallery | Washtenaw Community College | Sept-Dec 2022
Really BIG PRINTS 4.0 | Exhibition of street-roller relief prints
Organizers: Berel Lutsky (University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc), Ben Rinehart (Lawrence
University), and Katie Ries (St. Norbert College)
• Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum | Two Rivers, WI | Oct 2021 – Jan 2022
• Rahr-West Art Museum | Manitowoc, WI | Aug 4 – Sept 17, 2021
Adrian College Faculty Exhibition
Adrian College Gallery | Adrian College | Adrian, MI | Oct-Dec 2021
Cataclysm | Exchange portfolio traveling exhibition
Organizer: Sukha Worob (Montana State University)
• Mid-America Print Council conference at Univ. of Wyoming | Laramie, WY | Oct 2018
• Holter Museum of Art | Helena, MT | Sept-Oct 2018
• Glass Gallery | Lamar Dodd School of Art | Univ. of Georgia | Athens, GA | Aug 2018
• Salt Grass Printmakers | Salt Lake City, UT | July 2018
• Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance conference in Pullman, WA | April 2018
Our Natures – Solo Exhibition
Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center | Sioux Falls, SD | April 16 – Aug 7, 2016
Seeds of South Dakota – Designed and directed collaborative installation project with
area post-secondary students (in conjunction with Our Natures solo exhibition)
Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center | Sioux Falls, SD | April 12 & 13, 2016
Installation remained on view through October 2016
Edinboro National Print Competition
Juror: Karen Kunc (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Bruce Gallery | Edinboro University | Edinboro, PA | Feb 3-26, 2016
2015 Mid-America Print Council Juried Members’ Exhibition
Juror: Nicole Hand (Murray State University)
Elmhurst College | Elmhurst, IL | Oct 26 – Nov 22, 2015
Gallery Talk: The Nature of Reality – Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition Eli and
Edythe Broad Art Museum | Michigan State University | April 9, 2014
Works of Fiction: visual divergences | written narratives – Solo Exhibition
Gallery 101 | Kresge Art Center | Michigan State University | Oct 16-26, 2012
Artist Residency
London Print Studio | London, England | June 6-16, 2012
University Distinguished Fellowship – TA position, stipend & full-tuition fellowship |
Michigan State University | 2011-2014
The Feminist Future Symposium Scholarship
The Museum of Modern Art | To attend The Feminist Future: Theory and Practice in the
Visual Arts | New York, NY | Jan 2007