Ellen Gienger

Oregon fiber artist, Ellen Gienger, studied fine art at California State University and the School for Art Institute of Chicago. Early in her career, Ellen read  about a well-known textile designer, Douglas Ram Samuj.  Intrigued by the painterly nature of his designs, Ellen contacted him. For the next few years, she created striking clothing from Ram Samuj fabrics.

In 1994, Ellen rekindled her interest in painting, learned about dyes, and started creating her own fabrics and clothing. She moved to Bend, Oregon, and settled into the warehouse studio on the river where she creates her elegant fabrics and flowing pieced silk garments.

Ellen works by rolling out a large bolt of silk on her studio table. She applies layers of block printing and hand painting to create dramatic and varied abstract patterning on her fabrics. The patterns play off of one another creating contrasts of light and dark, movement and stasis, sheer and opaque.

The garments sewn from Ellen’s vibrant fabrics have an Asian overtone. Each of her art-to-wear garments is hand made, one piece at a time, and each is one of a kind.