 See "Chatham Sunrise" and other Landscapes. This article originally appeared in the Virginia Heritage magazine, February/March 2005. "Stoking the fires of art and design" 
By Howard L. GebeauxDate published: February/March 2005 Virginia Heritage magazine Show Ellen Worthy Stokes a space, and she'll think Art. Spend enough time with her, and you'll be thinking Art also. At least that's the goal of the Fredericksburg artist. "People will come to me wanting a custom piece for a special place," she explained. "My job then is to find out just what they really want so we'll end up with something they would have designed if they could." Although Stokes calls herself a "custom design artist," she's more than that. She's a painter whose work has won recognition throughout the nation, most recently when one of her works, a painting of a wild flower she found during a trip through the Italian Alps, was selected as one of 10 finalists for the 2004 Easter Seals lily. She has a master's in art education from the University of Georgia and taught at elementary and secondary schools in Colorado, Montana and Virginia. She currently teaches a class at Fredericksburg Academy. And yes, she's a design artist, recently joining other artists in providing works for the Fenway model home in Fawn Lake, partnering with framer Julie King Sturt to donate a print of Stokes' "Stratford Rooster" to benefit Stratford Hall, and currently filling the walls of the Millrace Commons Office Building across from the Maury Center in Fredericksburg. Stokes works out of a private studio on William Street in Fredericksburg. There she creates art with oil, acrylic, watercolor, glitter, pastels and other drawing media using various surfaces, including paper, canvas, doors and wood panels. She also displays her work within her own home on Lewis Street, right next to Kenmore.  Her path to art wasn't automatic. Although she grew up in Georgia with an interest in art, she was mainly involved in piano and dance. She attended Virginia Intermont in Bristol, Va., studying drama and then transferred to the University of Georgia in drama education. "When I asked them about art, they laughed and sent me to the education department," Stokes recalled. "Then in the summer after my junior year, a teacher asked me to stay after graduation and work on an art degree." She did just that, working for three years on an art degree followed by a master's in art education. "I loved teaching," she said. "Teachers are born, but you can make an artist." She brought that philosophy into her teaching. "There are many people born with skills in an area," she said. "Many times nothing ever happens to that - they just more on. "My approach is that anyone can learn the skills, like math and reading. I feel that way about art." But, she admits, something else is needed to succeed. "It requires something beyond the talent," she explained. "They must have a need to be creative. They must have discipline to continue working to get the image they want." And what is that image? "It's something anyone can learn," she responded. "Although I teach young people to create great images, they don't always recognize them. But if they have the desire and discipline, they will. "It's a personality that takes them further. That's the naturalness of it." Stokes took her love of teaching first to schools in Denver, Colo., then to Montana. In the early 1980s, she came to Virginia and the Aylett Country Day School in Millers Tavern. After a few years as a free-lance art teacher in Essex County, she joined the staff at Fredericksburg Academy. During all this time, her artwork was chosen for and displayed in many exhibits from Montana to Virginia. Soon a new direction appeared. In 2001 she was invited to produce interior art and display selected works for the opening of a new Fredericksburg restaurant. That became part of what she now sees as her vocation. "I now work full time on my art; I'm a full-time commission artist," she explained. "That is, I'm an artist for hire. That fits the traditional role of an artist, one who worked with patrons." This painting is part of what Ellen Worthy Stokes calls her "American Gothic Series." It is called "At Home with Charles and Barbara." 
On her resume, she calls herself an "Art Consultant to Interior Design studios, producing murals, florals, landscapes, portraits and painted furniture as components of total design projects," producing "commissioned art for clients throughout the Northern Virginia region.""I love everything about that," she said. "I get to meet great people, and we end up developing a special relationship." Working this way brings together the elements of Stokes' art philosophy. "Good art is in the eye of the beholder; it is so subjective," she said. "It all goes back to the basics." Those, she explained, include the art elements of line, shape, color, value and form; the principles of design such as movement, unity and balance; and color theory. "It's what I teach children over and over again," Stokes noted. "It all carries over to other things like gardening and the presentation of food." That kind of work also shows how important "space" and "place" is to Stokes. "A good space is any space where the main focus is art," she said. "People should invest in art and everything else after. "They don't mind spending $10,000 for a sofa, and then they'll be happy with a Wal-Mart poster. But they'll soon get tired of that poster." When Stokes has a commission, she doesn't retreat to her studio but works with the space where the artwork will hang. And she works closely with the client. "They usually have an idea of what they want," she said. "So we sit down and I interview them. I do a photo shoot and then do a lot of drawings and designs. We keep talking, as they are involved throughout the process. I never proceed unless the client knows what he is getting. "I will compile many different images and leave them with them. They'll then select their favorites, and that will tell me a lot of what they want. "Once we make the final decision, then comes my part. That's where my fulfillment comes." She sees the process as a collaboration. "The work is ours; we have fun," she said. "I love the exchange. I love to learn, and I learn through my clients. It's a stimulus to me." Stokes said that her goal is "to communicate the individuality of each subject by capturing the spirit within, whether it is my spirit looking in or my subject's spirit looking out. "It's important to see beyond the obvious, and that's my gift. It's something there that separates us, a uniqueness. They'll say I'm reading their mind." Stokes sees this kind of work as a business. "I have to treat it differently than sitting in a studio contemplating my vision," she said. "I feed on the variety that comes to me; it's never the same. I offer a smorgasbord. "To me it doesn't matter what the subject is. I love the painting, the process. I feel so blessed to be an artist. Every patron gives me permission to be an artist." Stokes' work is currently on display at Millrace Commons at the corner of Hanover and Jackson streets in Fredericksburg. Her website is www.worthyfineart.com and her phone number is 540-374-1961. |