Printmaking, original artwork, fibers, handmade cloth goods. Owner/maker Lena B. Ellis-Boatman is a printmaker, artist, and art educator. Rhizome Studio is her business adventure. Her twin goals are 1) to make and sell crafts and original prints and 2) to teach local art classes for teens and adults. She is passionate about education, teaching, and social justice. Lena currently works for a nonprofit, and she has served in AmeriCorps and taught university art courses as an assistant professor.

Lena writes, "I come from the Midwest, and it shows - in my artwork and in my politics. I grew up in green, humid summers near the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio, transfixed by trumpet vines and morning glories - and marching with my dad's union in the Labor Day parade. In college, I studied printmaking, painting, and art education, and I later earned my MFA degree in printmaking.

I now live in mid-Michigan, in a town bordered by meadows, fields, hilly forests, and small lakes. For me, being in nature is restorative and energizing - and inspiring. I run, swim, travel, kayak, do yoga, and sometimes even scuba dive. I keep my sketchbook and camera on hand in the kayak to document plants and exposed roots where the earth meets the water. I am fascinated with the natural world, and this informs my work as an artist."