CRANBROOK ACADEMY OF ART GRADUATE DREGREE EXHIBITION 2025  
GRADUATES \\ WORK \\ ABOUT \\
ELENA
GRAY
DEPARTMENT
PRINT MEDIA

ORIGIN
ANN ARBOR, MI



Elena Gray is a Ferndale, Michigan-based artist whose work combines screen printing and other printmaking techniques with painting to create richly layered compositions on canvas and wood panels. Her art delves into themes of girlhood, home, memory, gaze, and duality, drawing inspiration from photographs she collects or captures of friends and family.

Through split compositions, Gray fuses feminine figural imagery with colors and textures that evoke light and stillness. Her pieces often depict the casual intimacy of shared moments between friends. She integrates the Benday dots of screen-printed graphics with handrendered details, creating a visual tension between the tactile reality of her subjects and the pixelated, digital aesthetic of a screen.

These layered works serve as fragmented snapshots of a personal history—both collected and constructed— exploring the idea of home as a place constantly defined by movement and distance. By blending shifting perspectives and contrasting imagery, she crafts a body of work that invites viewers to reflect on memory, identity, and belonging.




Coalesce 
Ink, acrylic paint, and thread on canvas , 14 x 19” 
Daytona Blue 
Ink, spray paint, and acrylic paint on canvas , 15" x 26" 
Transition Series (1)
Ink, spray paint, and paper on panel, 18 x 24”

Everlasting
Acrylic paint on panel, lace on wood frame, 8.5" x 12.5"