"I simply adore printmaking, it fulfills all my creative needs, and never ceases to amaze and surprise me with the many ways in which you can interpret the image you see in the sketch book of your mind, or through the lens of your camera. Printmaking is fluid, it is not a static medium, it is always in progress, moving forward and exploring new terrain, and that makes it my chosen medium, the ways in which printmaking breaks new ground, adopts new techniques, including digital printing into a very traditional way of creating images, is quite frankly, so exciting!  Sure, I explore other ways of being creative, but my heart, is with the copper plate, the pristine piece of lino, the thrill of pulling the first proof of a new plate through the etching press! It is this magic, and this deep love of printmaking, that I try to share with the people coming to my courses, maybe the fact that I am also mainy self taught, makes it somewhat easier for me to understand how finding your own creative voice works, I think my work is constantly evolving, I always try to be "new" and to find fresh angles on what I love to depict, and I hope that I can help you do the same, when you come for a course.    I am very flexible with the way a course progresses, I want there to be a dialog between me and the students, and try to not be to rigid in showing how a technique is done, after all, this is the reason I love mixing my own studio time with courses, the very fact that many people, maybe new to printmaking, come with a whole new set of eyes, and my experience together with your vision of how you want your image to evolve, makes for a sometimes tumultuos, but always eyeopening relationship. I have also over the years as a printmaker helped many artists evolve their art into printmaking in a way that made it possible for them to work full time as artists, as printmaking does in a very real way open the door to that possibility."     Mariann Johansen-Ellis

Full time artist Mariann Johansen-Ellis, born in Denmark in 1962, spent her childhood on her grandparents farm, surrounded by animals and nature, with the sea a short bicycle ride away, a happy childhood that greatly influences her work to this day.
Her grandfather expressed these surroundings in intricate woodcarvings, and her mother is very involved in various forms of craft practices, this meant that she knew from an early age that the creative field was where she felt at home.

It was how ever, not until 1989, when she moved to the South of Spain, that the dream of working full time as an artist could be fulfilled.
Meeting a community of printmakers and artists, and taking great inspiration and support, most notably from Mary Eisman and Luella Ramsey, she started to develop her own, distinctive style of work. Going through various mediums, she discovered that printmaking opened up a path that was very compatible with her vision, and being practical, also put food on the table.

 Meeting her husband in 1995, a period of life as an expatriate started, with all the possibilities of experimenting and developing her work.  Although her first love is printmaking, painting also came to take a prominent role, in the body of work Mariann has created in the many years she spent in Singapore and South East Asia.

You can see more of Marianns paintings at www.MariannJohansen-Ellis.com
In Singapore and Brisbane, Australia, Mariann is represented by Red Sea Gallery.
Mariann has had several solo exhibitions at Red Sea Gallery in Singapore, and has also participated in various group exhibitions in both Singapore and Europe.

Having enjoyed enormously leading many printmaking workshops at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (www.stpi.com.sg) she plans to spend part of her time in Cascada Studio sharing her printmaking knowledge giving workshops. "Being an artist can be quite an isolating life, and I did not realize just how much fun it could be to share my knowledge and see the results until I was persuaded to conduct workshops. It is a truly inspiring experience to work together with a group of people all intent on exploring their creativity."

Mariann Johansen-Ellis has also  collaborated with Sunbear Publishing (www.sunbearpublishing.com) in Singapore,creating a series of illustrated children’s books to illuminate the plight of endangered species. Other illustration projects include “Where’s Grandma?” a project commissioned
by the Alzheimer Foundation of Singapore and supported by the Lee Foundation.

Selected Exhibitions:
2001: Solo Exhibition “Show me your Etchings” Shell Brunei Exhibition Facility
2002: Group Exhibition “The Art Show” Shell Brunei Exhibition Facility
2003: Solo Exhibition “Print It!” Shell Brunei Exhibition Facility
2005: Art Sydney, Australia
2005: Group Exhibition “Pameran Poskad”  Gallery La Libreria, Singapore
2005: Art Singapore, Singapore
2005: Solo Exhibition “All about the story” Red Sea Gallery, Singapore
2006: Art Sydney, Australia
2006: Art Singapore, Singapore

2007: Solo Exhibition “An Elephant told Me”, Red Sea Gallery, Singapore
2007: Art Sydney, Australia

2008: Red Sea Gallery moved to their current space, where Mariann has a
          separate room with a permanent exhibition.
2008: Group Exhibition “Pameran Poskad”, House, Singapore
2008: Group Exhibition “1x1x1” FOST Gallery, Singapore

2009:  Group Exhibition Green Door International Print Exchange, United Kingdom
2009:  Group Exhibition PrintZero International Print Exchange, Seattle USA
2009:  Group Exhibition “Los Animales Cute”, University of Colorado,  USA
2009:  Group Exhibition “X-factor”, Iowa University, Printmaking Departm. USA

2010: Group Exhibition “Pameran Poskad” My Art Space, Singapore
2010: Group Exhibition “Green Door”, United Kingdom
2010:  Group Exhibition PrintZero International Print Exchange, Seattle USA
2010: Art Singapore

2011: Group Exhibition “Green Door” , United Kingdom

2011: Group Exhibiton  - ArteMijas “Recicaldo” Casa del Museo, Mijas

2011: Art Singapore, with Red Sea Gallery, Singapore

2011: Art Sydney, with Red Sea Gallery Brisbane, Australia

2011: Group Exhibition 1x1x1 FOST Gallery Singapore

2011: Group Exhibition at "Con Tinta Roja" in Marbella, Spain