I’m Ellen Golla.
I was a professional artist specializing in finely detailed paper mosaic collages. My longtime studio and alter ego was called Zebra Crossing Picture Factory.
For a long time, I also made little books and did other, more crafty things with paper. I didn’t think of these as “real” work, and often gave them away as gifts.
Somewhere along the way, back when a lot of people had blogs, I started my own anonymous one about paper and artists’ books, mostly to entertain myself. I chose the Paper Chipmunk to distance it from my “real” studio work.
Over time, I became more and more involved with making artist’s books. I dropped my bookmaking and blogging anonymity. I started using The Paper Chipmunk Press for my bookish things.
I met many truly wonderful, inspiring and creative people through this blog.
And then… Life veered down a different path. I had health issues. Then my husband’s Parkinson’s disease progressed. I became his full-time caregiver. Somehow in the midst of all that, I also became involved in advocacy work that does not involve art.
I did not see my studio for years. I stopped blogging.
I know that people around the internet have linked to some of the images and tutorials on here. The plan is to eventually transition to a new site that will be less blog, but keep some of that material. Perhaps.
In the meantime, I hope you find something useful, or at least entertaining, in this archive of… stuff.
