Student hopes for degree of success with paintings sale

AN artist is drawing up plans for her future – by selling paintings to fund a higher degree.

Ellie Collins’s show at the Ropewalk in Barton-upon-Humber aims to raise the 5,000 she needs to take up a place at London’s Camberwell College of Art, where she will be studying for a Master of Arts in Fine Art.

Her 33 colourful, abstract paintings were inspired by a short story she wrote called Slipped Halo and feature three-quarters of an hour of an unremarkable school day seen through the eyes of an autistic nine-year-old called Jason.

Ellie is education officer at the Ropewalk, which has a special education programme for children with learning disabilities, and she said she had tried to make the paintings as close as she could imagine to an autistic child’s experience.

“Jason is detail-specific,” she said.

“He’s interested in very small things – he enjoys touching as well as looking at the quality of materials and objects.

“Professionals I’ve worked with who are in autism services and who have a lot of experience know where it is coming from, so I know I’ve hit the right spot and that’s encouraging.”

The colourful start to the year continues in GalleryOne, where around 20 textile artists have works using a mix of contemporary and traditional techniques on display.

Ellie’s exhibition at the Ropewalk – which celebrates its 10th anniversary this April – runs until March 21, and the paintings are on sale from 160 to 700.

Admission is free and both galleries are open between 10am and 5pm from Monday to Saturday and between 10am and 4pm on Sundays.