Ellie Hitchcock began working with polymer clay when she was a coordinator for children’s activities in a homeless shelter, looking for a user friendly medium that she could use with the children. After taking the Artist’s Way course, she made the decision to pursue her art full-time. Ellie started out with her work in a cooperative gallery and in two galleries in La Jolla and then juried into Spanish Village Art Center in beautiful Balboa Park.Ellie is a working artist and leaseholder of Studio #8 in Spanish Village Art Center; and has been a member of Spanish Village Art Center since 1997. She is a two-term past president of Spanish Village Art Center, has been a member of the Spanish Village Jurying Committee for about 15 years, was a charter member of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership and served on the Zoo Expansion working group for two years.Ellie served on the Advisory Board for San Diego High School’s School of the Arts and organized, supervised, and taught in an After School Art Enrichment Program in the Solana Beach School District. A long time advocate of arts education, Ellie founded the Children’s Integrated Art Experience, which partnered with San Diego Unified School District to bring 28,000 5th graders and 420 teachers to Spanish Village for hands-on art experiences over a two year period.Until summer of 2018 Ellie directed and taught in the Afternoon Children’s Art Camp in Spanish Village. Ellie has been a member of the Balboa Park Educator Council since 1999. She was the president of the Village Arts and Education Foundation until September, 2018, which initiated an Adult Art Camp in the summer of 2015.She is a member of the San Diego Polymer Clay Guild and is a past president and communications officer for the guild. For many years she chaired the guild’s retreat called Sandy Camp, which is attended by polymer clay artists from all over the world. Ellie was also a faculty member on the website www.CraftArtEdu.com where she taught online classes for teachers and children. You can see more of Ellie’s work on her website: www.elliehitchcock.com.Ellie loves working with polymer clay and exploring all the possibilities for its application. Just when she thinks there is nothing new to explore, someone comes up with some exciting new thing to do with this amazing medium. Polymer clay has been perceived as being a kid’s craft medium, but in the past several years it is being recognized more and more as a fine arts medium. Ellie’s enthusiasm for polymer clay is boundless!!
