James Ehlers
James Ehlers
James Ehlers was born and raised in Lake Charles, LA. He earned his MFA from the University of Florida and is currently the Don and Mary Glaser Distinguished Professor of Engraving Arts at Emporia State University in Kansas -- the only school in the nation to offer a BFA with a concentration in Engraving Arts. Since 2007, he has given numerous engraving workshops at various events including the Frogman’s Printmaking Workshop (South Dakota), IMPACT Printmaking Conferences (Dundee, Scotland and Bristol, England), MAPC (Minnesota), and universities around the country. He has participated in group exhibitions in Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Norway, Romania, The Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, and across the United States.
Fear of disease, politics, other people, climate change, and a need for distraction from boredom are repeated themes. Cellphones imply a world of vanity, mental programming/assimilation, and mistrust of reality evidenced by a constant need to document. Works with an open landscape feature a house from a Thomas Kincade painting. Kincade houses reference being marketed an American dream of spirituality, stability, and inner peace. A Rotting twitter bird is the symbolic flag bearer of the mass dissemination of information, regardless of truthfulness. It is the symbol of the divisive communication platform of social media and the willingness of the masses to embrace simulation culture. I aim to document contemporary struggles in an antiquated fashion, illustrating that advances in the world may make life easier. Still, fear, conflict, and manipulation will persevere in our evolutionary wiring.