Stella Ebner

Ebner is dedicated to the art of printmaking and demonstrating that this historically rich art form holds deep value and promise in contemporary art and society. She is profoundly interested in the history of printmaking and the unique voice of the medium. With a focus on craft, she has pushed the rigid and process-driven art form of printmaking in order to create works that transcend the possibilities of the medium.

Ebner received a BFA from the University of Minnesota in 1998 and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2006. Exhibitions of her work include: the Bronx Museum of Arts, the International Print Center New York (New York City) and the Print Center (Philadelphia), Kala Art Institute (Berkeley), and SFMOMA Artists Gallery (San Francisco). She has held residencies at the Lower East Side Printshop, NYC, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Program, NYC, and Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA. She is the recipient of several grants, including a Kala Art Institute Fellowship and Minnesota State Arts Board Artists’ Assistance Fellowship. Ebner’s work is in the collections of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN; Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN; Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA; and The Lower East Side Printshop, NYC, NY. Since 2010, she had been an Assistant Professor of Art and Design at Purchase College - SUNY in Purchase, NY.

She will use her CAI residency to create a series of screen prints inspired by the imagery of Buffalo/Western New York and the themes and aesthetic of “printmakers of the people” Currier & Ives. Like Currier & Ives, Ebner is working within the scope of the American every day, seeking to discover the imagery that defines us as a culture - images of spaces, events and moments that may be overlooked, but when held up to the viewer they become a place of self-recognition. Her goal is to create a series of prints around the complexity of America’s social fabric and provide a glimpse into contemporary American life.