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Edith Pair
My artist name “ellair,” comes from my full name, Edith Ellwood Pair. It also happens to be the street I grew up on in Grosse Pointe, Mi named “Ellair Place.”
I have loved being creative for as long as I can remember and I can still remember my first oil painting set bought by my father and given to me at 8 years old. Together we painted my first still life from a vase and flowers on our dining room table. After that, I was hooked and made art my full time commitment in life.
I attended Parsons School of Design pre-college course during high school and my love of fashion design sprung to life. I continued on and graduated with a BFA from the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996 with a major in fashion design. I worked for various companies as an Assistant Buyer until I decided to move back to Charlevoix to open my own gallery.
“Ellair Gallery” opened in 2006 which was an unfortunate time to start anything due to the struggling economy. Despite the lack luster financial world at that time…I did remain open for almost 6 years, but I finally pulled the plug and concentrated on doing custom order artwork, freelancing and my “Mushroom House Tours” company located out of Charlevoix.
If I had to pick one, Matisse is by far my absolute favorite artist and I strive for the fluidity, movement and grace of his pieces. My Artwork tends to be characterized as “Sophisticated Whimsy” and I like to use vibrant color combinations in my pieces, giving it a bohemian yet contemporary feel. I also like to take my love for fashion design and use a lot of fabrics, collage, found objects and hardware to adorn my pieces. I push myself harder and harder every year to steer from my comfort zone and branch out into new ideas, while still keeping some of the commercial aspects that make my artwork relatable to our area. My latest craze and obsession are my best selling “Fish Flies” where I transform basic wood into beautiful fish wall hangings. I mix my love of color and texture but also it evokes interest from people who are from this area.
I am extremely rigid in my artwork remaining original. My signature to every original piece is my “pear on a plate” found somewhere within the painting. That is the mark that shows each piece will never be duplicated.
I am proud to have been accepted into Artprize in Grand Rapids for three years running along with various other art exhibits including ArtRapids, Dart for Art to name a few. My artwork is available in numerous galleries in the Northern Michigan area including what I consider to be the absolute “top notch gallery” in the state, Michigan Artist Gallery, located in Traverse City.
I have loved being creative for as long as I can remember and I can still remember my first oil painting set bought by my father and given to me at 8 years old. Together we painted my first still life from a vase and flowers on our dining room table. After that, I was hooked and made art my full time commitment in life.
I attended Parsons School of Design pre-college course during high school and my love of fashion design sprung to life. I continued on and graduated with a BFA from the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996 with a major in fashion design. I worked for various companies as an Assistant Buyer until I decided to move back to Charlevoix to open my own gallery.
“Ellair Gallery” opened in 2006 which was an unfortunate time to start anything due to the struggling economy. Despite the lack luster financial world at that time…I did remain open for almost 6 years, but I finally pulled the plug and concentrated on doing custom order artwork, freelancing and my “Mushroom House Tours” company located out of Charlevoix.
If I had to pick one, Matisse is by far my absolute favorite artist and I strive for the fluidity, movement and grace of his pieces. My Artwork tends to be characterized as “Sophisticated Whimsy” and I like to use vibrant color combinations in my pieces, giving it a bohemian yet contemporary feel. I also like to take my love for fashion design and use a lot of fabrics, collage, found objects and hardware to adorn my pieces. I push myself harder and harder every year to steer from my comfort zone and branch out into new ideas, while still keeping some of the commercial aspects that make my artwork relatable to our area. My latest craze and obsession are my best selling “Fish Flies” where I transform basic wood into beautiful fish wall hangings. I mix my love of color and texture but also it evokes interest from people who are from this area.
I am extremely rigid in my artwork remaining original. My signature to every original piece is my “pear on a plate” found somewhere within the painting. That is the mark that shows each piece will never be duplicated.
I am proud to have been accepted into Artprize in Grand Rapids for three years running along with various other art exhibits including ArtRapids, Dart for Art to name a few. My artwork is available in numerous galleries in the Northern Michigan area including what I consider to be the absolute “top notch gallery” in the state, Michigan Artist Gallery, located in Traverse City.
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