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          Ellen Jantzen

           Ellen Jantzen was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.  She currently lives in Valencia, California.

           She has a varied background; originally her emphasis was on graphic arts and she obtained her first college degree in this field.

           She became disillusioned with the basic nature of art for advertising sake and dropped out to become an organic gardener and

           cheese-maker.  She raised goats also.  But this became un-fulfilling as she really longed for creative outlets and interactions.

           She then went back to college and got her second degree in fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising

           in Los Angeles, California.  She became quite fascinated with using fabrics in innovative ways which led her to work for several

           major corporations designing clothing concepts and products.  She also briefly taught product design at Art Center College of

           Design in Pasadena, California.  She again became disillusioned with the corporate/academic climate and longed for something

           more creative.  She has been making her current body of work with digitally manipulated photography for over three years now

           and finds great satisfaction and excitement each day as she works.  This is the perfect marriage of two dimensional graphic

           sensibilities and her need to create "things."  Because she creates ephemeral assemblages to use in her photography, her desire

           to work three dimensionally is fulfilled also.  She can be reached at ellenjantzen@mac.com and ELLENJANTZEN.COM