Claire Lister Ellinger ’96

Claire Lister Ellinger ’96 runs her business, Preschool Art Time, out of her home.

Claire attended Mary Washington College and majored in Art. After college, she worked a temporary job with a group of people in a summer program for troubled and violent children. This was a summer program, set in the Rappahannock Outdoor Center, and encouraged team building and self-worth through outdoor and river activities. She also worked with these children at Snowden Academy, an alternative school affiliated with Mary Washington Hospital for 3 years.

Claire earned her Masters of Education in the evenings, in order to eventually obtain an art teaching position in a public school.  She accepted a job at A.G. Wright Middle School, in Garrisonville where she taught art to sixth, seventh and eighth grade students for six years.

She married Kenny Ellinger in 2002 and they now have two boys, Benjamin and Colin. While staying at home with the boys, she began her business, “Preschool Art Time,” working out of her home and often using her student’s artwork to create window displays in downtown shops.