Born in Paris, Texas, artist Ellen Berman earned a master's degree in English Literature before becoming a visual artist. Berman explains that painting pictures from the most ordinary of worlds: the table, the kitchen, the grocery store allows her to look at those objects long and differently. "In a way, it's like trying to live an examined life. It's paying attention. The challenge becomes how to transcend the ordinary and how to find the illumination that is within." Berman now lives and works in Wimberley, Texas.

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