In-Town Gallery’s featured artist for the entire month of April, Ellen Franklin, will open a new collection of paintings that are small in size but big on impact. This versatile artist explores a variety of media which includes ink, watercolor, acrylic, pastel, encaustic, and oil. Come and meet this multi-talented artist at the opening reception from 5 pm to 8 pm on the First Friday, April 6, at the gallery.

A native Chattanoogan, Franklin did not discover her love of painting until later in her life. Beginning with a class in watercolor taught by Jim Wright, she has continued to stretch beyond the confines of a single medium. Franklin creates works in various combinations, including

unconventional ones such as coffee, concrete, and wax. She is always looking for new ways to express her appreciation of the forms and structures found in nature - using color, form, texture, and any combination of media to achieve the feeling she is after.

“I’m a self-taught artist who paints mostly landscapes of the rural area surrounding my Lookout Mountain home. I enjoy the entire process of each painting, usually beginning with a scene composed through the camera lens. Whether it is the mountains of Tennessee or the rugged coast of Maine, I strive to express in my paintings what it is that attracted my eye to the scene.”

Franklin is a graduate of UTC with a degree in Biology. She also has a degree in Nursing from the UT Center for Heath Sciences. She has attended several workshops throughout the country and has exhibited in many juried exhibitions, including the Southeastern Pastel Society, where she is a Member of Excellence, and the International Acrylic Painters Society. Franklin has exhibited at the Dalton Creative Arts Guild, and currently has her work at Gannon Art Center and Gallery, as well as at In-Town.