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EnglishWhat Connects Barbara Ellmann's Paintings, Sewn Drawings, and Prints?
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Barbara Ellmann's work is connected by a consistent set of structural concerns—grids, game-board geometry, and abstraction—that move across painting, sewn drawing, and printmaking rather than staying fixed in one medium. Her website organizes the work into distinct series: Painting Grids, Individual Paintings, Abstract Sewn Drawings (ASD), Digital Prints, 'Game Board' Drawings, and 'Parcheesi' Prints. If you want to understand the through-line, look at how the same visual vocabulary reappears in different materials.
The grid as the shared foundation
The grid is the clearest link across the series. It appears as:
- Painting Grids — the grid as an organizing structure for painted surfaces
- 'Game Board' Drawings — the grid as a field of play, borrowing from board-game layouts
- Abstract Sewn Drawings — the grid translated into stitched line and thread
In each case the grid is not just a background pattern but a system that determines where marks, colors, or stitches can go. That shared logic is what makes the separate series read as one body of work.
From sewn drawing to digital print
The Abstract Sewn Drawings (ASD) and Digital Prints represent a shift in medium rather than a shift in intent. The sewn works build images through physical thread and fabric; the digital prints carry related abstract compositions into a printed format. The connection is compositional: the same interest in line, repetition, and structured abstraction survives the change from hand-stitched surface to digital output.
Game-board themes across painting and print
The 'Game Board' Drawings and 'Parcheesi' Prints show the most explicit thematic pairing. Both draw on the visual language of board games—tracks, grids, and repeated units—but distribute it differently:
| Series | Medium | Shared motif |
|---|---|---|
| 'Game Board' Drawings | Drawing | Board-game grid and layout |
| 'Parcheesi' Prints | Game-derived pattern and repetition | |
| Painting Grids | Painting | Grid as compositional structure |
| Abstract Sewn Drawings | Sewn/textile | Grid rendered in thread |
The 'Parcheesi' prints extend the game reference into printmaking, while the 'Game Board' drawings keep it in a drawing format. Together they show how a single source of imagery can be reworked across media.
How to see the connections yourself
- Open barbaraellmann.com and locate the series headings listed on the site.
- Compare one work from Painting Grids with one from Abstract Sewn Drawings—note how the grid structure holds in both.
- Look at a 'Game Board' Drawing alongside a 'Parcheesi' Print to see the game motif carried from drawing into print.
- Check the Digital Prints section for abstract compositions that echo the sewn works.
The takeaway: Barbara Ellmann's series are not separate projects but variations on recurring structural ideas—grid, game, and abstraction—expressed through painting, sewing, drawing, and print.