Ella Mahoney is a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah); an artist, illustrator, and high school art teacher. She received her BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and her MA in Art Education from Pratt Institute. She has since illustrated children's books for the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Program, exhibited work in galleries, and created installations in collaboration with performers and museum spaces including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Long Island Children’s Museum, and Mass Art.
Primarily working in oil, acrylic, and most recently silk painting; her work is based on storytelling and draws inspiration from creation stories and narratives of her personal experience of indigeneity and relationship to land and water. Her recent projects explore large-scale silk painting and installation as a medium that invites people to play and participate in creating spaces that encourage connection to each other and our environments.