Dalee Ella Artist Printmaker

Hey! I'm Dalee.

My art is a celebration of the living growing world. An exploration of the journey back to interconnection and land as family. Being raised on magical Djabuguy county in Far north QLD, Australia, with a mixture of colonial experience, indigenous cultural exposure and a deep love of 'nature' my work simultaneously reflects the beauty I see and feel in my relationships with life and the hope I hold in my heart for us as humans to come back to the land as family, to listen to the elders and to actively create a better way forward.

As a seeker and explorer of deep relationships, to place, to people and to process, I have learnt that I need all this in my life to focus my wild brain and centre myself in meaning and purpose. We all need these things. After years of honouring my natural inherent energy to create paired with lots of hard work as a mother, a homesteader and a grower, I see that I am now surrounded by plants, systems, knowledge, people, materials and relationships that not only enable me to continue to create in these ways that I do, but that are all as much a part of what I create as I am. Like some kind of conduit of connection, this art is literally keeping my feet on the rich soil ground and my head in the wonder and awe of life and of the world.

What a gift it is to be able to share this trip all with you! I'm so grateful you are here feeling connection to this work and to our collaboration.

I hope with all my heart that within these creations of ours you discover your own inspiration to explore the threads of interconnection. To nurture and develop relationship to the living growing world and know that in return it nurtures and cares for you. For I believe that these feelings of interconnection and reciprocity are needed to not only help us move forward into a better future, but to also remind us in the little moments of our crazy modern lives that this life on earth can be so rich and whole.

xxx Dalee

I am so grateful to the country that I live and create on.

I AM DEEPLY GRATEFUL TO LIVE AND WORK ON BEAUTIFUL BANDJALANG COUNTRY AND WIDJABUL COUNTRY. I ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS, THE BANDJALANG PEOPLE AND THE WIDJABUL PEOPLE OF THE BUNDJALUNG NATION. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT OUR FABRICS ARE BOTH MADE AND PRINTED ON THE LANDS OF THE WURUNDJERI AND WADAWURRUNG PEOPLES OF THE KULIN NATION. I RECOGNISE THE ANCIENT AND CONTINUED CONNECTION TO THE LAND, WATERS AND SKIES OF THIS SPECIAL CONTINENT, AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PEOPLE NEVER CEDED SOVEREIGNTY. I PAY MY RESPECTS TO ELDERS PAST, PRESENT AND EMERGING AND TO ALL FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE.

Dalee's art practice

Artist Bio

Dalee Ella is an artist printmaker, illustrator and textile designer who works to create intricate lino prints for papers and fabrics. She handcrafts all her own paper from recycled waste products infused with homegrown and foraged botanicals and loves to work with Australian made organic cotton, linen and hemp fabrics.

Dalee's processes have evolved out of and reflect her land-based lifestyle. Featuring imagery that tells the stories and expresses the beauty of a slow paced, earth centered, handmade and homegrown reality.

For the past 11 years she has lived on a beautiful intentional community, on Bandjalang country in northern NSW Australia, with her husband and two boys where they continue to work together to build natural homes, educate outside of school and grow abundant food gardens.

Their deep connections to each other, the land they live on, the plants they grow and animals they care for are direct results of choosing to live a simple, DIY life, that allows the time flexibility and space to learn diverse skills and develop practices as artists and low impact contributors to the future.

It is directly from her earthy everyday experiences, living this chosen lifestyle, that Dalee draws most of her inspiration.

Dalee Ella holds a bachelor degree in fine art with a major in Printmaking from the Qld College of Art, Griffith University, Australia.