About
The Haddow Circle is a travel-based arts program that supports emerging visual artists through immersive residencies, mentorship, and collector engagement. Each year, it organizes two international trips and two local events designed to help artists deepen their practice, build high-value connections, and gain visibility in the contemporary art world.
Led by Ellender Grace Robinson, The Haddow Circle acts as a bridge between early-career artists and seasoned collectors, patrons, and curators. It offers MFA-level feedback and intentional community without the gatekeeping and institutional barriers of academia or traditional gallery systems.
The program is grounded in beauty, structure, and care. It prioritizes artists from underrepresented backgrounds and cultivates lasting relationships with art supporters who want to fund bold, emotionally resonant work.
Origin Story
The name ‘Haddow Circle’ is a tribute to Ellender Grace Robinson’s grandfather, who served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and was stationed aboard the USS Haddo, a submarine. A rural Tennessee kid raised by a single mother in the Depression, he discovered a passion for art and poetry while traveling as a young serviceman. His home was filled with eclectic, unpretentious works collected from around the world: paintings, pottery, textiles, zines, and small-press poetry.
Though he never formally studied art or discussed it publicly, his quiet, joyful collection reflected a hunger for beauty that stood in contrast to the trauma and silence he carried from his time at sea. The Haddow Circle is built for artists like him—brilliant but submerged—who need access, affirmation, and structured support to fully emerge.
Leadership
Ellender Grace Robinson
Founder
Ellender Grace Robinson (she/her) is a nonprofit leader, arts advocate, and residency curator with over a decade of experience in creative youth development, fundraising, and community-based arts programming. She has led teams and initiatives in both Development Director and Executive Director roles, always with a focus on access, equity, and long-term impact.
Her work centers on helping emerging artists find their footing within established arts ecosystems. Through relationship-based curation and direct patronage, she supports young artists in preserving their work, growing their practice, and building sustainable creative careers. Her approach reflects a deep belief in collective care, cultural legacy, and the power of belonging.
Kyler Pahang
Advisory Council Member
Kyler Pahang is a Filipino artist based on Duwamish Land. His art is focused on empowering, decolonizing, and celebrating cultures. He wants to reconnect back to his roots and does so by researching precolonial traditions and creating artworks based upon said research. Pahang is encouraging others to do the same by depicting aspects of his cultures that are not widely known. His body of work exhibits large mixed media paintings that depict the colonized in the same position as their colonizers in order to expand others’ views on overly exploited countries. Pahang recently received his MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Washington, graduating with excellence. He also holds a BA with Honors from the same institution, is a Mary Gates Scholar, and received the Hubs Directory Award from his department.
Charlotte (Lottie) Soliven
Advisory Council Member
Charlotte (Lottie) Soliven is a junior at Liberty High School who grew up believing she could change the world. In her sixteen years of living, she has done just that by fearlessly breaking Asian stereotypes with her inability to do basic mental math and her European-sounding name. Her other talents include being the lead singer in the band PB and Jellyfish, crying in public, winning plushies from claw machines, being the only cheerleader who can’t cartwheel and relentlessly insisting that poetry is cool to the kids at Camp Yesler and her high school peers.