About Elke:
I had a normal upbringing jus like everybody else. My parents were ambitious, my teachers pushed and taught me.
Truth was what you go away with, at home and at school. Later my professors influenced me and then finally my managers bossed me around.
As the object of other peoples opinions, beliefs and above all, their expectations, I was broken in and trained to function. I did function well, I earned money but there was no love
To relieve the boredom, I took some evening art classes at Morley College with Maggi Hambling. There I found a group of new and very different friends who encouraged and inspired me. "Welcome home", said Maggi with a fierce direct gaze. I learned to be myself. If you are really being yourself, you are not going to be told by anyone else who you are or what you are or what you should do.
To entertain the increasing number of nephews and nieces, I started to draw little pictures, later I illustrated proper children's books for a while, and now the colours are flooding over on to much larger canvases.
The nephews and nieces are still visiting, my canvases now hang on their walls and I still live next door to Morley College.
Art gets under my skin, I take it seriously, and for the rest I like to have a few laughs.
I had a normal upbringing jus like everybody else. My parents were ambitious, my teachers pushed and taught me.
Truth was what you go away with, at home and at school. Later my professors influenced me and then finally my managers bossed me around.
As the object of other peoples opinions, beliefs and above all, their expectations, I was broken in and trained to function. I did function well, I earned money but there was no love
To relieve the boredom, I took some evening art classes at Morley College with Maggi Hambling. There I found a group of new and very different friends who encouraged and inspired me. "Welcome home", said Maggi with a fierce direct gaze. I learned to be myself. If you are really being yourself, you are not going to be told by anyone else who you are or what you are or what you should do.
To entertain the increasing number of nephews and nieces, I started to draw little pictures, later I illustrated proper children's books for a while, and now the colours are flooding over on to much larger canvases.
The nephews and nieces are still visiting, my canvases now hang on their walls and I still live next door to Morley College.
Art gets under my skin, I take it seriously, and for the rest I like to have a few laughs.