Ellen Holtzblatt is a Chicago-based artist, working in the media of painting, drawing, printmaking and artist books.  Her latest work focuses on ritual and biblical themes, making emotional and experiential connections.   Holtzblatt’s current series, Yizkor, is an introspective exploration of the relationships among memory, death and birth.  Also, she recently created an artist book of woodcuts based on the biblical flood as an allegory of rebirth and spiritual purification. The woodcut prints look at the archetype of journeying through water as a mirror of the stark reality of human existence – death, sex, gestation and birth. 

Holtzblatt received her B.F.A. and graduate certificate in art therapy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  She has exhibited her work internationally at diverse venues, including Inselgalerie in Berlin, the Lancaster Museum of Art, ARC Gallery, Chicago Cultural Center, and Woman Made Gallery.  Holtzblatt's work is in public and private collections, including the Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection and The Center for Book Arts.