Artistic Infusion Program Designer
Elana Hagler is a fine artist and portraiturist. She is an Assistant Professor of Art, teaching painting and drawing at Alabama State University. She began her art education in her grandfather’s dental laboratory, making little wax sculptures in the chair next to him as he crafted dentures. She went on to drawing notebook covers of winged skeletons and other fanciful creatures for her classmates for about a quarter a drawing. After her junior year at Brandeis University, Elana had the opportunity to study with Lennart Anderson at the International School of Art in Montecastello di Vibio, Italy, where she fell in love with painting from observation.
Upon finishing her BA in Fine Art and Psychology at Brandeis, Elana spent two years abroad in intense study in the Master Class at the Jerusalem Studio School, with painter Israel Hershberg. After her time in Israel, Elana earned her MFA at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, focusing on perceptual painting and drawing. She worked with such luminaries as Scott Noel, Sidney Goodman, Renée Foulks, and Vincent Desiderio.
Elana has won multiple prizes in painting and drawing and has exhibited her work across the United States and internationally. She has taught fine art at Cornell College, the Delaware College of Art and Design, and at Swarthmore College.
When not designing coins, teaching art, or working on portraits or still-lifes, Elana spends time with her two children and husband in their home in Montgomery, Alabama.
Coin Design Credits
- 2024 Greatest Generation Commemorative Coin Program – Clad obverse
- 2022 American Women Quarters™ Program – Dr. Sally Ride reverse
- 2020 Presidential $1 Coins – George H. W. Bush obverse
Coin & Medal Design Credits
- 2023 American Liberty High Relief Gold Coin and Silver Medal – obverse