Artist Bio

Elena Stone is an intuitive painter and mixed media artist whose work grows out of a lifelong passion for the creative process and engagement with the beauty and the turbulence of this world. Primarily self-taught, she has recently had the joy of bringing her art practice from the margins to the center after retiring from a career in non-profits and academia. Elena’s work is inspired by her kinship with the earth community, her spiritual exploration through Jewish, Buddhist and feminist lenses, her commitment to  cross-cultural engagement, and her ongoing dialogue with music and the written word. Her work is known for its vibrant color, distinctive mark-making and inviting layers. Its artfully worded titles add depth and meaning, as viewers take in a " Sunset for a Weary Soul," contemplate the significance of “Heart in the World”, or remember to “Breathe”. As one familiar with her work recently noted, “Elena's art guides and moves us to experience life more fully.”

Elena encountered some of her earliest influences at the Wadsworth Atheneum, the excellent small art museum in her hometown of Hartford, Connecticut. Wandering the modern art collection as a young person, she was enchanted by the impressionists and works by the likes of Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, and Georgia O’Keeffe. As she grew older she sought out additional female role models and was excited to discover the abstract expressionist painting of Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler, and later the lush woman-centered work of Joan Snyder. Another influence was the activist silkscreen art of Sister Corita Kent, which Elena loved for its brilliant colors and dancing text.  The free-spirited and experimental nature of such work continues to inspire her, and has helped her to find her voice in abstract art today.

Elena is currently Artist in Residence at the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University, where she is the creator of Big Planet Love, a blog about art and ecofeminism, and director of the Our Bodies Ourselves Today Creative Spirit Project, which uses art and creativity to foster women’s health and well-being. She is a member of the Artist Beit Midrash community, which brings together Jewish artists to explore connections between art and spirituality, and a graduate of the Artists Professional Toolbox of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston. Elena’s art has been shown in a variety of venues including the Maud Morgan Center, Bromfield Gallery, Shaira Ali Gallery, Atkins Atrium, Cambridge Public Library and Zea Mays Printmaking Center. Her work has been featured on CD covers including the popular El Doble de Amigos bilingual children’s CD by Sol y Canto, as well as on promotional materials for the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights, Arlington Center for the Arts and Hebrew College.

A long-time resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Elena is grateful to live in a multicultural neighborhood that is home to many artists and is walking distance to beautiful urban wilds. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Community Arts Center of Cambridge, whose mission “to cultivate an engaged community of youth whose powerful artistic voices transform their lives, their neighborhoods, and their worlds” reflects her own belief in the power of art to move hearts, open minds and help us to explore what it means to be human.