Ellen Gillett is a visual artist and independent curator who creates animated and interactive installations that explore gesture, illusions of movement, and people's connection to place and their spaces. Her artistic practice involves drawing, stop-motion animation and digitally-created video imagery and often invites contribution or participation from audiences, blurring the lines between engagement, curation, and art-making.
She is Co-director and a founder of ZEST Collective, a group of emerging artists in Southampton who support each other and local communities through skills-sharing workshops, group exhibitions, and by sourcing external funding for projects and collaborative artworks. Ellen has regularly curated the collective's exhibitions and shaped the nature of collaborative, creative interventions in local community spaces.
Ellen is Arts and Cultural Leadership Coordinator at Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton) providing specialist support for Dr Kai Syng Tan, Associate Professor in Arts and Cultural Leadership, who is neurodivergent.
Ellen previously worked at Aspex Portsmouth as Creative Engagement Coordinator, running the gallery's learning and engagement programme, delivering workshops and outreach, and curating exhibitions of engagement outcomes.
Since 2018, Ellen has worked in Southampton and the wider solent region with Solent Showcase Gallery (Solent University), ‘a space’ arts, Southampton City Art Gallery and John Hansard to deliver exciting art projects, exhibitions, and workshops. She has had multiple successes securing funding from Arts Council England and is trained as a Creative Mentor with Southampton Cultural Education Partnership.