Angela Ellsworth at the Cranbrook Art Museum

Angela Ellsworth (b. 1964, Palo Alto, California) is a multidisciplinary artist exploring identity, culture, and tradition, often drawing from her personal experiences with Mormonism.

One of Ellsworth’s most important series is The Seer Bonnets: A Continuing Offense, which are sculptural bonnets made of thousands of steel, pearl-tipped corsage pins. These pieces draw inspiration from the thirty-five wives of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon faith, who were seen as possessors of “tools of translation” for interpreting spiritual messages. Ellsworth reinterprets these symbolic bonnets to honor women’s contributions and emphasize their roles as visionaries, while also acknowledging their generational trauma. The bonnets symbolize resilience, spirituality, and the act of creation that extends beyond religious texts into personal and collective histories.

Ellsworth’s broader body of work examines themes of endurance, the body’s connection to space and time, and societal perceptions of health. By integrating performance, sculpture, and historical narrative elements, Ellsworth offers personal and universal insights into power, gender, and spirituality.