Ellen Dunn featured artist for August at Frames & Things

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press 

After a brief hiatus during July, First Friday Art After Dark returned to Frames and Things last Friday with mixed media pieces of artwork by Ellen Dunn.

Art After Dark kicked off at 6:30 p.m. with an assortment of hors d’oeuvres and a variety of wines for guests to choose from. Dunn’s work, featuring different landscapes, animals and more,  was displayed on the gallery walls, with even more pieces available for purchase in a box on the floor. 

“Ellen Dunn has been around for a while, and she’s got fantastic work,” said Frames and Things owner Joe Friddle. “She’s been a lot of places and does a lot of things with her work.” 

Friddle said that the purpose of First Friday: Art After Dark is to introduce people to art. 

“We just want people to come in and try to develop a liking for art because lots of people see pictures and see stacks up in Walmart and Hobby Lobby and places like that and they don’t know a thing about it, but in here, especially when we have a featured artist, now you can get a picture but you can talk to the artist and see what went through their head, whether it’s painting, whether it’s photographs, whether it’s sculpture, anything,” Friddle said. “They get a chance to see what the artist put into it.” 

Ellen Dunn’s work is classified as mixed media because she takes her photography and combines it with her hand coloring or hand drawing or manipulates the image in some fashion. 

Dunn estimated that she has been a practicing artist for 20 years. Dunn was formerly a physical education teacher and coach for 40 years and also taught dark room, digital and infrared photography at Central Texas College starting in 2004. 

Dunn said that she started with photography and then became interested in adding to it and trying out different techniques.

She said her favorite part about her artwork is the creativity. 

She utilizes Photoshop to help her manipulate her photos. 

One of her displayed pieces featured orange butterflies that she took individual pictures of and then created a picture that portrayed all of the butterflies on one stem. 

“[I’m] just thinking about, ‘How can I make this different?’” Dunn added. 

The next First Friday: Art After Dark will be September 8, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with events also planned for October, November and December. December’s First Friday will be an open call for any and all photographers who are interested, according to Friddle. 

Frames and Things is located at 216 Cove Terrace Shopping Center. 

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