Ellie Fritz

Ellie Fritz is a full time artist who lives and works in Marin County, CA. Her practice is rooted in the intersection of printmaking, painting, drawing, and collage. Rather than treating these disciplines as separate mediums, she allows them to inform one another through a process of layering, revision, and chance.

Using the printing press as a means of mark-marking rather than a traditional printmaking tool, it introduces an element of unpredictability that is central to Fritz's practice. She inks and embosses textile materials such as tulle directly into raw canvas, building compositions through a dialogue between intention and surprise. Collage is equally fundamental to her process. By moving, layering, and reconfiguring materials in real space, she's able to physically orchestrate a composition while remaining open to discovery. The process is interactive and improvisational, allowing unexpected relationships, rhythms, and forms to emerge.

Ultimately, her work embraces uncertainty as a creative force. Through collage, printmaking, and material exploration, she creates works that serve as records of experimentation, transformation, and the ongoing act of discovery.

"At its core, my work is a meditation on time and space—the unseen forces that contain us. The unfolding of time is deeply embedded in my process, as each gesture and decision becomes a marker of presence. Through abstraction, I don’t just create visual experiences — I cultivate a deeper understanding of my place in the world."

Fritz completed both her BFA (2004) and MFA (2008) at SFAI and has received several honors, including the Spring Show Award (2004), and a Teaching Assistantship (2008), both at SFAI. In 2008, Fritz was an artist-in-residence at KALA Art Institute and recently completed her stay as the 2019 artist-in-residence at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art (Marin MOCA). She was featured in Studio Visit Magazine in 2010 and has taught through extension programs in San Francisco, including ACE at the San Francisco Art Institute. Fritz lives and works at her studio in Marin County, California.