b. 1969, Falls Church, Virginia
Education
2000-2002
MFA, Mills College, Oakland, CA
1987-1991
BA, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
Awards & Residencies
2022
Vermont Studio Center Artist Residency, Joohnson, VT
2018
Rauschenberg Residency #34, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Captiva, FL
Bench Projects, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Community Arts Grant
2016
Bench Projects, City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program, Individual Artist Grant
Bench Projects / NIAD, California Arts Council, Artists Activating Communities
Bench Projects, The Clorox Company, Arts Mini-grant
Bench Projects, Keep Oakland Beautiful
2015
Bench Projects, City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program, Individual Artist Grant
Bench Projects, Keep Oakland Beautiful
2014
Bench Projects, Alternative Exposure Grant, Southern Exposure
2012
Experimental Media Arts Lab Residency, Stanford University
2009
Sarah Jacobson Film Grant, Free History Project
2008
Finalist, Visions from the New California, Alliance of Artists
Communities Open Meadows Foundation, Project Grant
2007
Juror’s Prize, “Betting on Shorts,” Palais de Tokyo
Best Documentary, DIGit Media Exposition
Finalist, “War Stories,” WGBH Lab
Best Short Film, Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film
2006
Juror’s Award, ArTech – New Media Works
2005
Mediamaker Award, Bay Area Video Coalition
Individual Artist Grant, City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program
2002
Herringer Prize, Mills College
2001
Murphy & Cadogan Award, The San Francisco Foundation
Mills College Graduate Research Grant
Nell Sinton Scholarship
2000
Mills College Graduate Research Grant
1999
Vermont Studio Center Residency Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center
Exhibitions
2022
Artists’ Annual, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2020
Fresh Work, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2017
From Generation to Generation: Inherited Memory in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
2016
Wish You Were Here, Peephole Cinema, San Francisco, CA
2015
Chrysalis Lens: A Brief Survey of Contemporary Video Art, Marylyn & Chuck Klaus Center for the Arts, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
2014
Resource, Ninth Street New Media Exhibition, Block Gallery, Oakland, CA
All the World Has its Sky, Addison Windows Gallery, Berkeley, CA (solo show)
2013
Hydr0sphere, Multi-Media Exhibition at Interstitial Theatre, Seattle, WA
PixelPops, Regeneration, Isaac Delgado Fine Arts Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Actual Scale, Kala Gallery, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Fission Fusion, Tulsa Living Arts Center, Tulsa, OK
Instant Vintage/Stop Motion, Interface Gallery, Oakland, CA (solo show)
2012
Seeking Silicon Valley, Zero1 Biennial, San Jose, CA
Convergence/Divergence, WEAD, Los Medanos College, Pittsburg, CA
Seaworthy, e4c, Media Gallery, Seattle, WA (solo show)
The First Show, Multiplexer Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2011
Currents 2011, Sante Fe International New Media Festival, Santa Fe, NM
Retro Futurism, SpaceCamp MicroGallery, Indianapolis, IN
Fresh Work, Kala Art Institute & Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2010
Provocative.Objects: the Extradition, Patricia Doran Gallery, Boston, MA
Baltimore v. the World, Current Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Alternate Reality, DIGit 2010 Media Exhibition, Delaware Art Center’s Loft Gallery, Narrowsburg, NY
Jamaica Arts Flux 10: Workspaces & Windows, Jamaica Center for Arts, Jamaica, NY
2009
The Big Switch: New Media, Film & Video, Sumter County Gallery of Art, Sumter, SC
Bits and Pieces, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Domestic, AC [Institute Direct Chapel], New York, NY
Moab Video Project, Locust Projects, Miami, FL
2008
Piece to Piece: Works from Kala Art Institute, Downtown, Berkeley, CA
Subversive Complicity, The Lab, San Francisco, CA
Centennial Video Special, Crawl Space Gallery, Seattle, WA
Reconciling America, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007
Love/War/Sex, Exit Art, New York, NY
Artbots: Philadelphia, The Esther M. Klein Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2005
By Any Means Un/necessary, Mission 17, San Francisco, CA
2004
Artbots: The Third Annual Robot Talent Show, The Mink Building, New York, NY
2002
The L-7 Project, Crocker Galleria, San Francisco, CA
Cream: The Right Stuff, Arts Benicia Gallery, Benicia, CA
Bay Area Student Sculpture Biennial, Pacific Rim Sculptors, San Francisco, CA
Masters of Fine Arts Exhibition, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
2001
Murphy & Cadogan Exhibition, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Screenings
2018-2019
Aurora Picture Show: Extremely Shorts Touring Program, The Mini Microcinema, Cincinnati, OH
Aurora Picture Show: Extremely Shorts Touring Program, Cellular Cinema, Minneapolis, MN
2013
Orbits Film/Video Screening, Chopin Theatre, Chicago, IL
Experimental Films by Ellen Lake. DOCUMENTAL, Unurban Coffeehouse, Santa Monica, CA
Lone Glen 8, Basement Poetry and Video, Oakland, CA
Kalassal, Video Screening, Artist Project Space, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2012
Cologne OFF 2012, art & moving images in a global context, traveling screenings from Greece to Russia (complete list available upon request)
About Oakland, By Oakland, Great Wall of Oakland, Oakland, CA
Ghost IV, The Haunted Sea, St. John Bethnal Green, London, UK
Filmideo, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
Dissilence, Workspace Limited, San Francisco, CA
2011
Paradoxes in Video 2, Garage Gallery, San Diego, CA
Temescal Street Cinema, Opening Shorts curated by Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Oakland, CA
Another Experiment by Women Film Festival, Anthology Film Archive, New York, NY
About Oakland, By Oakland, Great Wall of Oakland, Oakland, CA
Unlike Screening, Unlike Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Lightworks, Grimsby Town, UK
Urban Research Program, Directors Lounge, Berlin, Germany
Time, 6 x 6 Media Arts, Ciné Lab, Athens, GA
2010
Baywatch, San Francisco Film Society, Cinema by the Bay, Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA
Rotterdam VHS Festival, Trade Gallery, Nottingham, UK
Ten Second Film Festival, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
Experimental Moving Images Festival, Axiom Gallery, Boston, MA
The Pretty Things, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL
South Loop Film Festival, Showplace ICON Theater, Chicago, IL
Ladies & Gentleman, the Fabulous Sarah Jacobson, Glasslands Gallery, NY, NY
2009
The Disposable Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
Dysfunctional Holiday Party, Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY
Deconstructing, Director’s Lounge, Berlin, Germany
Pocket Film Festival, Forum des Images, Paris, France
Betting on Shorts, Film Café, Cinema Theatre Rio, Stockholm, Sweden
Collecting + Collections, Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art & Science, Fresno, CA
Film night 3.0: Extra Lives, Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA
Version 09 Festival, Rotterdam VHS Festival, Chicago, IL
Aurora Picture Show, Diverseworks, Houston, TX
The Disposable Film Festival, Roxie Cinema, San Francisco, CA
2008
Technocracy, Carnegie Mellon University, Miller Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Mill Valley Film Festival, San Rafael, CA
Le: 60 Film Festival, Lumen Eclipse, Cambridge, MA
Milkbar Film Festival, Oakland, CA
Hi Mom! Film Festival, Chapel Hill, NC
Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema, San Francisco, CA
Life of the Mind, Temescal Street Cinema, Oakland, CA
Extremely Shorts XI, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
The Artist Project: Artopolis, LiveBox, Chicago, IL
SWAN Day Screening, the Artists’ Exchange, Cranston, RI
Women with Vision, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
On the Move, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Rotterdam VHS Festival, Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2007
Antimatter Underground Film Festival, Victoria, B.C., Canada
DIGit Media Exposition: Tunsten Theater, Narrowsburg, NY
MadCat Women’s International Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
New York Experimental: The Tank, New York, NY
Extremely Shorts X, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
Monkey Town Semiennial, Williamsburg, NY
Chlotrudis Film Festival, Coolidge Theatre, Brookline, MA
2006
Scanners, New York Video Festival, Walter Reade Theater, New York, NY
24 Hour Film Festival, Downtown Community Television Center, New York, NY
Rotterdam VHS Festival, Robert Fruinstraat 35, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Astoria Moving Picture Festival, Hell Gate Social, Astoria, NY
Ms. Films Festival, PS1 Theater, Durham, NC
2005
Apple Cider Screening, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL
Shorts: Collections Program, 21st Film Arts Festival, Roxie Cinema, San Francisco, CA
Lost Film Festival, Rotunda Theater, Philadelphia, PA
Cross Currents, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
ASU Short Film & Video Festival, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
UP CLOSE: And Personal, Two Boots Pioneer Theater, New York, NY
New Video Work on the Brink, Spark Contemporary Art Space, Syracuse, NY
2004
MadCat Film Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Tinkering! Film Series, The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
Reel Venus Film Festival, Symphony Space, New York, NY
Visions of Excess, Press Play Video Series, Attack Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington, NC
Adelaide Fringe Festival, Adelaide, Australia
Rotterdam VHS Festival, Off_Corso, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Broadcasts/Special Projects
2021
Bookends, Curated work for NIAD online exhibition, NIAD, Richmond, CA
2015-present
Bench Projects, North Oakland Public Art Project pilot funding by Alternative Exposure and continued funding by City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program and other sources
2012
Experimental Media Arts Lab Residency, Stanford University
2011
Curator’s Corner, by Mary Magsamen, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
2010
Baltimore v. the World, DVD, Current Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2009
Found Footage Film Collection, Video Art Database, Video Channel Cologne, Germany
2008
Small A Projects Video Library, New York, NY
2008
Ann’s Hoard: Reel 13 Shorts, WNET, New York, NY
Collector Documentarian, Spoiler Alert Radio Podcast, 88.1, WELH, Providence, RI
2007
InTransit v. 2, Bi-annual Video Art Journal, Astrodime Transit Authority, Lowell, MA
EYE AM: Women Behind the Lens, MNN.org, Time Warner Channel 34, New York, NY
2006
EYE AM: Women Behind the Lens, MNN.org, Time Warner Channel 34, New York, NY
Pandora Box, with Elliot Lessing and Heike Liss, The Lab, San Francisco, CA
2004
The Collections Series, Axlegrease/Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY
2002
LaExtravaganza@DasMuseum, with Heike Liss, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
Teaching Experience/Visiting Artist/Panels
2022
Panelist, California Alliance of Public Art Administrators (CAPAA)
Artists+Government Program, Palo Alto, CA
2021
Guest Speaker, Studio Artist Talk Series, NIAD, Richmond, CA
Instructor, Grant Writing for Artists, Part 1 and 2, SF Camerwaork, San Francisco, CA
2019
Moderator, “NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program – Fundraising Panel,” Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland, CA
2016
Visiting Artist, “Bench Projects,” NIAD, Richmond, CA
2013
Guest Lecturer, “Grant Writing Strategies for Artists,” Society for Photographic Education Conference: SPE West, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
2012
Visiting Artist Lecture, “Instant Vintage,” Experimental Media Arts Lab, Stanford, University, CA
2011
Guest Filmmaker, Makers Film Night, Ribbon and Tie, San Francisco, CA
2010
Filmmaker Q & A, Cinema by the Bay, Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA
2008
Artists’ Talk: Ellen Lake & Takehito Etani, Kala Gallery, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2007
Tinkadelic, Scratch Film Workshop, Gilman Playground, San Francisco, CA
2006
Guest Lecturer, The Language of Painting, University of California, Berkeley, CA
2004
Guest Lecturer, Visual Dynamics 3D: Memory, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2003
Artist’s Talk: On Your Own, Griffins Foothill Middle School, Walnut Creek, CA
2002
Artist’s Talk, Cream: The Right Stuff, Arts Benicia Center Gallery, Benicia, CA
Teaching Assistant, Arts 161-166: Advanced Painting, Mills College, Oakland, CA
Guest Lecturer, Arts 10286: Advanced Electronic Arts, Mills College, Oakland, CA
Video Instructor, East Bay Media Center, Summer Media Camp, Berkeley, CA
2001
Teaching Assistant, Arts 009-109: Beginning Painting, Mills College, Oakland, CA
Guest Lecturer, Art History: Contemporary Women Artists, Mills College, Oakland, CA
2000
Art Workshops, Berkeley Food & Housing Project, Berkeley, CA (1996-2000)
Articles/Reviews
“Artist Interview,” Hissing Contemporary Art Magazine, March 2019.
“NIAD Art Center wins grant to beautify Richmond bus benches,” The Richmond Standard, May 10, 2016
“Artists Taking over Bus Benches in North Oakland,” by Alex Mak, Broke-Ass Stuart, March 17, 2016.
“This Weekend’s Top Five Events,” by Sarah Burke, East Bay Express, March 18, 2015
“Artist Proof: Ellen Lake of “Bench Projects,” a North Oakland Public Art Series, Oakland Art Enthusiast, Feb. 26, 2015
“Having A Baby in 1942: One Couple’s Utterly Charming Homemade Documentary,” by Rebecca Onion, Slate: The Vault, Historical Treasures, Oddities, And Delights, Dec. 3 2013
“Stanford visiting artist Ellen Lake creates a cultural paradox across decades,” by Robin Wander, Stanford Report, Stanford University News, March 9, 2012
“The Works: All you can consume and digest at Kala Gallery’s group show,” by DeWitt Cheng, East Bay Express, January 12, 2011
“Place Evaders,” by Martin L. Johnson, Baltimore City Paper, September 29, 2010
“In a Handheld World, Ellen Lake’s Miniatures Fit Right in,” by Michael Fox, SF 360, February 11, 2009
“Low-budget, Artful Movies Showcased in SF’s Disposable Film, by Laura Casey, Oakland Tribune, Jan. 28, 2009
“French Fries to Fire Hydrants,” by Ellen Lake, ARP, v2.1, Art Review & Preview, Summer 2008
“Critic’s Pick: All is Fair, The Artropolis Highlights,” New City Chicago, April 22, 2008
“The State of Video Art,” by Jen Graves, The Seattle Stranger, March 5, 2008
“Reconciling America: Miraculous Encounters with the Mundane,” by Valerie Imus, Shotgun Review, March 2, 2008
“Coming of Age at Crawl Space,” by Jim Demetre, Artdish, February 25, 2008
“War and Sex,” by Michèle C. Cone, artnet.com, December 28, 2007
“Picks of the Week,” by Sarah Giovanniello, Brooklyn Museum, December 7, 2007
“Artbots: Robot Talent Show Invades the Esther Klein Art Gallery,” by A.D. Amorosi, Art Matters, June ed., 2007
“Where Does Heart of Gold Sleep,” by Victoria Dalkey, Sacramento Bee, August 20, 2006
“Pack Rats,” by Rachel Swan, East Bay Express, July 6, 2006
“Short Cuts: Film Arts Festival Highlights,” by Johnny Huston, San Francisco Bay Guardian, November 4, 2005
“Showoff: Collectors bare unknown troves,” by Joyce Slaton, sfweekly.com, October 13, 2004
“Nothing Robotic About Robo-Art,” by Cyrus Farivar, wired.com, September 20, 2004
“Artbots 2004,” www.neural.it.com, hactivism, e-music, new media art, September 16, 2004
“Obsessive Absence,” by Nimala Nataraj, SFStation.com, January 12, 2004
“Coming To You in Glorious Pixelvision,” by Lynn Smith, Times Staff Writer, November 9, 2002, latimes.com
“Best New Artists Come to Benicia,” by Lily W. Heyen, August 11, 2002, BeniciaNews.Com
“The Living Museum,” by Ariel Thomas, Mills Now, Spring 2002, Mills College