The recently retired Ellen Nelson, former Senior Master Teacher of the Arts, is now continuing her artistic legacy through national exhibitions, community projects, and environmental advocacy from her studio in Maine.
Nelson’s retirement marks the end of an era at The Hill, where she spent nearly four decades shaping the arts program and mentoring generations of students. Yet her departure from the classroom has sparked a new phase of creativity and service. From her home studio in Maine, Nelson continues to produce meaningful artwork, engage with national art initiatives, and support local communities, ensuring her influence as an artist and educator endures well beyond campus
In March of the recent 2024-2025 school year, Ellen Nelson announced her retirement after 38 years of teaching at The Hill. Having grown up in Wendell dormitory in a family of six siblings and long-time faculty members Winnie and Dick Shaughnessy ’50, Nelson has considered The Hill her home for more than six decades.
Since joining the arts department in 1987, she has served, along with her role in teaching studio art and art history, as the Boyer Gallery coordinator, chair of the arts department, faculty adviser to the honor council, chair of Women of The Hill, and dorm parent in Foster dormitory and the now-demolished middle school building. She is also a revered award-winning artist, with frequent features at the Perkiomen Valley Art Center and Pottstown Area Artists Guild. Her retirement followed one year after her husband, Phillip Rogers Mallory ’04 Senior Master Teacher of Science Mark Nelson, who retired in June 2023 after 44 years at Hill.
Right into retirement, Ellen Nelson and her husband moved to China, Maine where their daughter Marie Nelson ’10 resides. She continues to produce art in a variety of mediums from her new studio: a repurposed bedroom with art supplies, reference books, and a brand-new printing press, organized along a stretch of desk space.
In this space, Ellen Nelson has spent the past few weeks on a piece for the Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project, a national organization focused on building bridges between artists and incarcerated individuals. Her latest work, “Solomon’s Path,” is a quilt display with weavings of famous abolitionist Solomon Northup, made in collaboration with “Angola,” an inmate from Louisiana State Penitentiary. The piece is set to be displayed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Rutgers University.
Along with the quilt work, Ellen Nelson has found opportunities to help local community with her art. Multiple times a week, she travels a short distance to Sunset Home, an all-women assisted living facility, to host art activities with older women. Nelson also works with the conservationist group China Lake Assocation and has made emblems for merchandise to fund environmental stewardship.
“I like to use my art to reach people, use my art to help raise funds, use my art to help folks who are in need, because it’s hard for me to just sit down and create art, and it gives a lot more motivation and purpose,” Ellen Nelson said.
In the rest of her newfound time, Ellen Nelson takes courses on adult education and sustainable artistic practices, which she feels helps connect with artists and “keeps the creative juices flowing.” She also enjoys a lot of outdoor expeditions with her husband, kayaking and mountain hiking in nature preserves near their home. The Nelsons look forward to visiting campus and its familiar and welcoming community in the coming May.