Typically one thinks of a quilt as a comforting patch-worked material
focusing on endearing memories, material which is often handed down from generation to
generation. Ken Ellis tells a different kind of story with his quilts. By
depicting acts of murder and hate crimes in his large quilts, Ken forces us to look at
violence as it is "passed on" from generation to generation. Violence gives
birth to violence as Ken's quilts depict the assassination of Sitting Bull and Crazy
Horse, portraits of Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, the murder of John F.
Kennedy, images of the Klu Klux Klan, Hitler and others who commit violent hate crimes.
Ellis insists, "I don't glorify it [violence], I just try to show it."
Al Capone (Chicago
crime boss of the 20's and 30's)
Fabric Dye on Canvas - Hand Quilted 30 x
24" © Ken Ellis
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Bonnie & Clyde
(Murderers, Bank Robbers, ambushed
outside of Gibsland, LA on May 23, 1934.)
Fabric Dye on Canvas -
Hand Quilted
44 x 64"
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Bloody Flag
(The hate group, the Klu-Klux-Klan, is still present in our country in
spite of its history of oppressing and murdering African-Americans.)
Fabric Dye on Canvas - Hand Quilted
28 x 32"
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The Assassination of Sitting Bull
(On Dec. 14, 1890, the Sioux police surrounded
Sitting Bull's camp at Grand River and attempted to arrest him for participating in the
Ghost Dance. Resisting arrest, Sitting Bull was shot and killed. The ensuing battle took
the lives of six policemen and eight of Sitting Bull's followers, including his 17-yr-old
son Crowfoot.)
Fabric Dye on Canvas - Hand Quilted
52 x 38"
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JFK
(The assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
The Single Bullet Theory?)
Fabric Dye on Canvas - Hand Quilted
45 x 36"
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BIOGRAPHY
A native of Chicago's Ogden Elementary and Lane Tech High School, Ken Ellis was taught
at an early age to sew by his father, a maintenance engineer. After trying his hand at
fine art by attending the Chicago Academy for the Arts, the School of the Art Institute
and Columbia College, Ellis went back to his love of sewing. He began by painting and
sewing on T-shirts - selling them at art fairs, and it wasn't long before he needed a
larger format. He first draws on the fabric, then paints the colors on the fabric using
special "non-bleeding" dyes. After the dye is set, the images are then
embroidered and sewn with batting. "I find it very soothing for my nerves…it's
therapeutic." Leaving a symbolic signature, Ellis even dots the backs of his quilts
with his own blood.
In the past, Ken Ellis has shown his work at Bona Fide Gallery and at Dynamite Gallery
in Michigan.
