"When I look at her," a fellow student said so many years ago, "I always think of a fairy princess." I believe that is exactly what we all saw when delighting in Ellen Powell's company. The masses of long, curling golden locks, the blue eyes, the rosy cheeks and red lips.... and of course the all encompassing smile and bursting laugh sounding somewhere between a foghorn and a train crash. When the rest of us starved during the noon art history class, Ellen brought along a prepared lunch. I always said the girl could eat Cleveland and never gain a pound. When Mr. Dedrick was witty in class and we all chuckled, often there would be a ten second delay before that laugh erupted out of the darkness. Ellen had finally got the joke. She wasn't frequently in the art studios, happy to work on her illustrations in her dorm room with her pet mouse secretly stashed in the closet. Her fashion style was unique; a mens hat, suspenders, a flannel shirt tied high above her waist and baggy pants.
Her art was whimsical... I remember a water color series about the adventures of "Peter the Pea", I believe, that would make any curmudgeon smile. Naturally I made her part of my art... photographs and drawings... but only portraits, mind you. When requesting more, all I got in return was that honking laugh that knocked me backwards three feet.
I had a photography assignment to tell a story... so of course I enlisted the aid of my 'regulars' to model for me. This rather charming photo essay became part of my senior show as well.
Ellen and I talked when Mr. Dedrick became ill. She was very concerned about me... how I was dealing with the situation. Later she wrote to Pat Hoffman, "My friend Bob called to let me know our Philip Dedrick is ailing. I am so sad to hear of his declining health and wish him the best."
In the passing years Mr. Dedrick would tell me all about Ellen's successful greeting cards as well as the half dozen books she had illustrated. Her work appeared in more than 300 stores and repeatedly commissioned by The National Wildlife Foundation. "Do you know," P.D. said to me with true amazement, "that every Christmas I get a card from her, she has never forgotten me." Like so many others there was a special bond between student and her professor.
~Joe & Ellen 1976~
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