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Home › People › Directory › Ellen McMahon

Ellen McMahon

Associate Dean

Professor, Art

Art Bldg, Room 207D
520-621-1493

MFA – Vermont College, MS – University of Arizona

Ellen McMahon uses a range of media (artist books, writing, painting, drawing, photography, design and video) to investigate the relationship between visual art, daily life, and the ways we frame and study social and environmental problems.

McMahon came to the University of Arizona in 1980 to study Scientific Illustration (MS in Biology 1983). After several years of professional experience as an illustrator and graphic designer, she received an MFA in visual art (Vermont College, 1996) and was hired in a tenure track position in the UofA School of Art. Between 1990 and 2005 her work addressed the social and cultural construction of motherhood and the politics of intimacy in the mother-child relationship. Since 2005, fueled by her conviction that art and design are foundational in effecting positive change, she has developed a number of projects that support individual creative inquiry among her peers and students through interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships with community organizations.

In 2007 McMahon received a Fulbright Fellowship to work as an artist/designer with the Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans in Mexico and presented her work as a delegate to the World Design Congress (ICOGRADA) in Cuba.  From 2010-2012, she served as initiator and director of a collaborative faculty research project focused on regional water, which included 29 participants from art, design, humanities, the natural and social sciences, as well as city and regional water managers. The resulting book which McMahon art directed and co-edited, Ground|Water: Interdisciplinary Responses to a Dry River received national and international design awards and has been collected by over 40 public institutions worldwide.

McMahon’s artist books are in 15 public collections in several countries. Her visual work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions and in solo exhibitions “Redressing the Mother” at AIR Gallery in New York, “Maternal Matters” at Cal State San Marcos, and “In Nature | Of Nature | Perceptions of Place” at University of Wyoming. Her published writings include personal essays about motherhood, op-eds about design and the environment, and technical papers about scientific illustration.  Her autobiographic essays are published in Mother Reader: Essential Writings on Motherhood (Seven Stories Press, 2002), The Oldest We’ve Ever Been: Seven True Stories of Midlife Transition (University of Arizona Press, 2008), and The M Word: Real Mothers in Contemporary Art (Demeter Press, 2010). Her design work is featured in Clean New World: Culture, Politics, and Graphic Design, (MIT Press, 2002) and Graphic Design: Sustainable Principles and Practices, (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016).

More:

  • http://www.ellenmcmahon.com

Recent Work

Change OVer Time

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Hemispherical Photographs

Prone to Collapse

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Cardboard, pine needles, video

Phenotypes (installation detail)

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Archival print mounted on aluminum

Genetic Drifters (from Phenotypes series)

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Archival print mounted on aluminum

Heterotic Sympatrics

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Heterotic Sympatrics

Lost Language of a Desert Sea (detail)

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Letterpress, collage

Lost Language of a Desert Sea (detail)

Artist: Ellen McMahon

LEtterpress, collage

A is for Anatomy

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Letterpress

Ground|Water: The Art, Design and Science of a Dry River

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Letterpress, offset printing

Ground|Water: The Art, Design and Science of a Dry River

Artist: Ellen McMahon

Letterpress, offset printing

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University of Arizona School of Art
4 days ago
University of Arizona School of Art

This digital artwork is titled “Connections” and is by 2021 BFA Exhibitor and Illustration + Design student Sophia Patch.
•
See this piece and many more at the 2021 BFA Exhibition (bfaexhibition.art.arizona.edu) and join us for the Virtual Reception, Friday, April 23- 4 -5 pm! Zoom link in bio!!
•
“My subject matter is people. Not just figures, but the thoughts they contain, the connections they form, and the experiences they hold. My goal is to capture the human experience and add a fantastical twist – to capture the wonder in simply being.” - @anisopod
... See MoreSee Less

This digital artwork is titled “Connections” and is by 2021 BFA Exhibitor and Illustration + Design student Sophia Patch.
•
See this piece and many more at the 2021 BFA Exhibition (bfaexhibition.art.arizona.edu) and join us for the Virtual Reception, Friday, April 23- 4 -5 pm! Zoom link in bio!!
•
“My subject matter is people. Not just figures, but the thoughts they contain, the connections they form, and the experiences they hold. My goal is to capture the human experience and add a fantastical twist – to capture the wonder in simply being.” - @anisopod
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University of Arizona School of Art
6 days ago
University of Arizona School of Art

This great digital art piece is by Studio Art student Conor Ryan called “The Celestial.”
•
“This work is exploring the idea of what could be out there in the universe. Is something waiting for our species in the stars? Is something looking down on us even now? The universe and its infinite possibilities interest me greatly, and through this piece, ​The Celestial, ​I strive to share this curiosity. I derive influence for this piece from wave-like CRT television glitches, and from themes in films like “Blade Runner 2049” and “Interstellar”. The being depicted here is supposed to embody the unknown of the universe, what might be out there.” - @conorwryan.art
... See MoreSee Less

This great digital art piece is by Studio Art student Conor Ryan called “The Celestial.” 
•
“This work is exploring the idea of what could be out there in the universe. Is something waiting for our species in the stars? Is something looking down on us even now? The universe and its infinite possibilities interest me greatly, and through this piece, ​The Celestial, ​I strive to share this curiosity. I derive influence for this piece from wave-like CRT television glitches, and from themes in films like “Blade Runner 2049” and “Interstellar”. The being depicted here is supposed to embody the unknown of the universe, what might be out there.” - @conorwryan.artImage attachment
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Love this Conor Ryan 🙌

Wow! Fabulous!

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University of Arizona School of Art
1 week ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Photos from University of Arizona School of Art's post ... See MoreSee Less

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University of Arizona School of Art
2 weeks ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Check out 2021 BFA Exhibitor Sam Potter’s photographs at the link in our bio!
Pictured: Reflection 1 and Reflection 2 (digital photography)
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Check out 2021 BFA Exhibitor Sam Potter’s photographs at the link in our bio!
Pictured: Reflection 1 and Reflection 2 (digital photography)Image attachment
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University of Arizona School of Art
2 weeks ago
University of Arizona School of Art

We are so excited to announce that the 2021 BFA Exhibition is live! Each spring semester we look forward to highlighting the work of our studio and AVCE undergraduates, so click the link in our bio and keep checking in to this account to see us feature some impressive work from our student artists! ... See MoreSee Less

We are so excited to announce that the 2021 BFA Exhibition is live! Each spring semester we look forward to highlighting the work of our studio and AVCE undergraduates, so click the link in our bio and keep checking in to this account to see us feature some impressive work from our student artists!
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University of Arizona School of Art
3 weeks ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Check out David Taylor’s feature in the Guardian! His drone images give a rare look at for-profit ICE detention centers in Amanda Holpuch’s article with interviews with ex-detainees on their trauma during Covid-19. Link in Bio!! ... See MoreSee Less

Check out David Taylor’s feature in the Guardian! His drone images give a rare look at for-profit ICE detention centers in Amanda Holpuch’s article with interviews with ex-detainees on their trauma during Covid-19. Link in Bio!!Image attachmentImage attachment+1Image attachment
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