Bio

Ellie Westhoff is a printmaker, part-time pizza salesman, and wizard. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri where she earned her BFA in Printmaking at the Kansas City Art Institute (’24). She currently is the shop assistant for Twin Hound Print Shop in KCMO. Her other hobbies include collecting dust and taking apart computers.

Artist Statement

The narrator in my life is a thousand different versions of myself and they all lie to each other. Inspired by the symbolism found in historical works of art, where language was less accessible and image was intended for storytelling, I create symbols for my own literacy. I choose to reference my life and experiences through stories and odes. Personifying my emotions and personal struggles with the character I create allows me to better communicate my own experiences. It is an alternative universe and amalgam of my real-life and make-believe, in which I’m allowed to play with distortion of time and memory.

Printmaking gives me the tools to render this alternative dimension. Through lithography and intaglio processes, I am able to get the level of detail I want while spending time with the material through hand drawing and almost alchemical processing of the matrices. My use of color is heavily influenced by the colors related to the processes, solvents, and materials found in the print shop along with documentation of my walks around Kansas City. The labor involved in my printmaking practice brings me more time to sit with my ideas and work intuitively with no plans for what is to come.