Ella Rochelle-Lawton was born and raised in San Francisco. Inspired by her surrounding artistic communities and her own and family experiences with housing instability, mental illness, and service industry work, Rochelle-Lawton focuses her art around area specific problems of homelessness, mental health, and the overall protection of low income communities.
Rochelle-Lawton graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Art from UC Berkeley and received a certificate of design from UC Berkeley's Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation in 2022. Prior to studying at UC Berkeley, Lawton developed her artistic skill at the Academy of Art University.
Currently, Lawton work as a Marketing Intern and as Lead Illustrator for UC Berkeley's Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership where she illustrates projects for the Masters of Engineering program, within UC Berkeley's College of Engineering to communicate student solutions to industry partners, investors, and academic communities. Within this position, Lawton works to create a variety of marketing materials and illustrations in effort to bridge the gap between UC Berkeley and communities traditionally excluded from STEM in larger aims to make education more accessible and to give current students, partners, and alumni a sense of belonging.
Additionally, Lawton works as an Artist in Residence for George Washington High School. Within this role, Lawton develops students workshops, leads critiques and artistic discussions, and works with Advanced Placement art students to develop their portfolios. As an Artist and Residence, Lawton works to archive and analyze the rich creative history of the school through documentation of historic student works and research of the art histories including; Victor Arnautoff in relation The Life of Washington, Dewey Crumpler and his "Multi-Ethnic Heritage" response series, and the legacy of alumnus Maya Angelou.
Lawton's work has been exhibited across Bay Area museums and galleries and exists within various private collections. Her series, inspired by her experience with eviction, “Collection”, won the Ezra Keats award and was exhibited at the Jewish Contemporary Museum and The Worth Ryder Art Gallery. Additionally, she has exhibited work in multiple student collectives at the San Francisco Asian Art museum. Lawton's work for Human Trafficking Awareness earned a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Recently, Lawton was selected to receive California College of the Art’s Kalmanovitz scholarship along with various awards from the San Francisco Elk’s Lodge for paint and charcoal works. More recently, Lawton received the Mel Hanson Memorial Award and UC Berkeley's Fiat Lux Scholarship for her undergraduate career, the Fiat Lux Research grant for her instillation, “Acclaimed” (exhibited at The Worth Ryder Art Gallery as part of the shared show: Coalescence), and the MacGyver foundation Design Competition award (distributed in two parts; to the artist and her chosen charity: New Story which provides housing to low income communities around the world).
In 2022, Lawton was awarded the UC Berkeley SPOT award, a Certificate in Excellence in Video Art from UC Berkeley Art Practice, UCB’s Humanist at Work grant, and a position within UC Berkeley’s Art Honors studio cohort. Most recently, Lawton received the UCEAP Global scholarship for creative studies at Queen Mary’s University London and the Benjamin Gilman International scholarship for her research project on affordable housing efforts for London low income artists.