Ellie Balk
About Ellie Balk
My role in my work is that of a composer. I drive my compositions by creating specific rule sets and color codes that build systems with which can be read and interacted by the viewer. Although the work is formally abstract, there is a language to the compositions that engage participation and investigation. I am curious about people’s instinctive behavior and use this curiosity to create systems to be deciphered and played with. By manipulating the viewer to create confusion, I formalize the coincidental and emphasize the conscious process of composition that is behind the seemingly random. The viewers role in the work is as important to the work itself.
https://www.elliebalk.com
Stained Glass Installation
Color Connections
Color Connections
International High School at Laguardia Community College
Long Island City, Queens New York
WHAT COLOR DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU THINK OF…..
POWER
FREEDOM
KNOWLEDGE
THE PAST
THE PRESENT
THE FUTURE
HOME
JOY
WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES
Artist Ellie Balk and math teacher Tricia Stanley in collaboration with the International High School at Laguardia Community College surveyed one hundred students to explore the connection between color, concept, time, and emotion.
Students were asked what colors they thought about when they thought of the following abstractions: Power, Freedom, Knowledge, The Past, The Present, The Future, Home, Joy, and with their Eyes Closed.
The respondents were asked to choose colors from a 64 color palette. Survey responses were then aggregated to create these stained glass windows that serve as a visual representation of each one hundred answers.
This project was made possible by the National Academy of Design through an awarded Prize grant.
Stained Glass Installation
Where We Are Home 2022-2023
Where We Are Home
Each wall: 7.5’ x 24’
For more pictures and the full story read the captions and check out www.instagram.com/elliebalk
THE DATA:
When I came for my site visit at PS 007 in Elmhurst, Queens, the Principal showed me this walkthrough and I was so excited to make something for this space.
We talked about his students and their families and this neighborhood which is considered the most ethnically diverse in New York City.
I decided to start with a survey where I asked the students:
1. Where were you born?
2. Where were your parents born?
3. Where is Home?
4. What color do you think of when you think of Home?
We got nearly 500 completed surveys!
I used this data to create two different designs, one completed in 2022 and this one completed in 2023.
THE PALETTE:
The countries where the students and parents were born are color coded based on the most picked color selection from the question “what color do you think of when you think of Home?”
Mural Installation and community Engagement for Spotify
Genre of Color
Genre of Color
2021
Spotify Headquarters
65th floor, World Trade Center, 4
New York
The Data:
When attempting to create a ‘chromatic definition of sound’, I developed a survey asking Spotifiers to match a set of words describing a range of emotion to both a color and a sound. The survey was distributed internally with the data informing the result.
The artwork displays the relationships between people’s associations of colors with words or songs.
How to read it:
The graph is centered upon a colored rectangle which is color-coded to reflect the word. The height of the shape is determined by how many people selected that color to word/song answer. The triangles to the west represent the selections of color to word that the participants selected, while the triangles to the east represent the selection from color to song. The length and width of each triangle are a representation of the percentage of people that selected that color for the word and song. The final work displays a collective chromatic definition of sound.
Click here for the Data Spreadsheet
Public Artist Art Roster
My role in my work is that of a composer. I drive my compositions by creating specific rule sets and color codes that build systems with which can be read and interacted by the viewer. Although the work is formally abstract, there is a language to the compositions that engage participation and investigation. I am curious about people’s instinctive behavior and use this curiosity to create systems to be deciphered and played with. By manipulating the viewer to create confusion, I formalize the coincidental and emphasize the conscious process of composition that is behind the seemingly random. The viewers role in the work is as important to the work itself.
