For the Coal Miners' Memorial Project in Richlands, Va. (2003), Ellen Elmes co-designed and created drawings for etchings on the granite walls.
Although Ellen Elmes retired as a full-time art instructor at Southwest Virginia Community College in December 2007, she was not permanently honored until recently when the college named its exhibition room the Ellen Von Dehsen Elmes Gallery.
Her influence may best be described by the words of a former student during a reception honoring Elmes: "I just want to thank you, Ellen. At a time when I had no direction, and was most vulnerable, you changed my life."
Elmes is a well-known artist in the region. Her watercolors grace private homes throughout the region. She is best known for her murals and public art projects. Her murals adorn exterior walls in several towns, as well as inside churches, clinics and college buildings up and down the East Coast. Her community murals, through which students have learned the process of mural painting alongside Elmes, may be seen in buildings in Clintwood, Vansant, Richlands and Norton.
For more information about Elmes and her mural projects, visit www.artsmagazine.info (keyword "Elmes").
