Bio

Elisa studied art from a young age and attended high school at Baltimore School for the Arts. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, graduating in 1991 with a major in Printmaking and a minor in Art History. During that time, Elisa also studied at the Santa Reparata Printmaking studio in Florence, Italy, and later at the Vermont Studio Center.

After college, Elisa took advantage of St. Louis’ cheap warehouse spaces and began making, showing and selling her work, with solo shows at Elliot Smith Contemporary Art in St. Louis, Fontbonne University and The Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago. She taught as an adjunct professor of painting and drawing at Webster University.

In the summer of 1999, Elisa moved with her two dogs, four cats and one husband to Philadelphia. She continued to work after the birth of her first child, incorporating the experience of motherhood into large collagraphs and a handmade book. After the birth of her second child, she chose to put all of her creative energy into her family life.

Now with two young adult children, two dogs (though sadly not the same ones) and the same husband, Elisa is happily back to work in her studio, exploring how her embrace of art and motherhood informs her latest body of work, Interstices (2019-2021). Elisa also creates portraits for the families of victims of gun violence through the Souls Shot Portrait Project. 

When she is not in studio or with family, Elisa enjoys swinging kettlebells and reading Carlo Rovelli.

Artist’s Statement

I spent hours as a child imagining interior lives for a set of painted metal playing jacks. I was especially interested in small imperfections, such as the bumps of extra metal and the seams left from the manufacturing process. I made up stories about the relationships between the jacks and observed how each spun. I used these stories to understand the more complex relationships around me. 

As a young artist I made portraits and narrative paintings, focusing tightly on ordinary settings and subtle interactions. I felt that these paintings allowed me to create everyday scenes in which I could stop or slow down time so that I could pay attention to the intricacies of a moment.

After immersion in the supposed minutiae of motherhood, I returned to making art with similar sensibilities as before, but with a different perspective. I had a more spacious approach to how I defined myself as an artist and a woman. 

I turned to observation of small objects from the natural world, such as seed pods. By placing these objects in relation to both natural and man-made objects I once again found myself painting intimate narratives, and even portraits, of so-called inanimate objects. 

My fascination with the relationship between a particular individual, be it an object or person, to the larger world has carried all the way from the imaginary world of my childhood jacks through to my most recent work. While I no longer feel that I can stop or slow down time even in a static image, I still believe in the importance of slow, tender observation.

CV 

Education

1991 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Washington University in St. Louis, Printmaking concentration, Art History minor.

1990 Santa Reparata Studio, Florence Italy, Etching.

Solo Exhibitions

1999 Elliot Smith Contemporary Art, “New Faces”, St. Louis, MO

1997 Contemporary Art Workshop, “Elisa Abeloff”, Chicago, IL

1996 Forest Park Community College, Elisa Abeloff, Recent Painting and Drawings, St. Louis, MO

1993 Gallery at MAC, “A Particular Set”, St. Louis, MO

Group Exhibitions 

2019-2022 Souls Shot Portrait Project, traveling exhibition, Philadelphia PA and NJ

1998 Webster University, “Faculty Exhibit””, St. Louis, MO

1997 World Trade Center, “Two Person Exhibit”, St. Louis, MO

Quincy Art Center, “Juried Group Show”, Quincy, IL

Hunt Gallery, “Group Show”, St. Louis, MO

1996 Art St. Louis, “Art St. Louis”, St. Louis, MO

Webster University, “Faculty Exhibit”, St. Louis, MO

1994 Alcazar Gallery, “Juried Show”, Baltimore, MD

1993 Rockville Arts Place, “Drawings Coast to Coast”, Rockville, MD

1991 Nicholet College LRC Gallery, “Northern National Juried Exhibit”, Rhinelander, WI

The BAUhouse, “Juried Show”, Baltimore, MD

Steinberg Gallery, Washington University in St. Louis, “BFA Exhibit”, St. Louis, MO

1990 Baltimore School for the Arts, “Alumni Show”, Baltimore, MD

Reviews, Profiles, and Publications

1999 “Elisa Abeloff Turns Ordinary Scenes Into Master Strokes”, Daniel, Jeff,  St. Louis Post -Dispatch, (St. Louis, MO, July 11)

1996 “Interesting New Work from Familiar Hands”, Duffy, Robert, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (St. Louis, MO, October 17)

“Column”, Byrne, Richard, The Riverfront Times, (St. Louis, MO, November)

“Drawings by Elisa Abeloff”, River Styx Magazine, (St. Louis, MO, October) 

“A Silent, Enigmatic Drama”, Duffy, Robert, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (St. Louis, MO, April 11)

“Review”, Smith, Brian, Art St. Louis, (St, Louis, MO, Volume 11, No. 1, Spring)

1993 “MAC the Knife”, Langlois, Suzanne, The Riverfront Times, (St. Louis, MO, November 10)

“RAP’s Drawings a Feast for the Eye”, Morgan, Roberta, The Rockville Gazette, (Rockville, MD, June 30)

1992 “Lofty Ambitions”, Batz, Jeannette, The Riverfront Times, (St. Louis, MO, November 11)

1991 “Paintings at BAUhouse Leave Strong Impression”, Dorsey, John, The Baltimore Sun, (Baltimore, MD, July 17)

1990 “Art Alumni go on to Better - and Better Things, Dorsey, John, The Baltimore Sun, (Baltimore, MD, February)

Teaching Experience

1995-1999 Webster University, Adjunct Professor in Drawing and Painting, St. Louis, MO 

1996 Meramec Community College, Visiting Professor, St. Louis, MO  

Forest Park Community College, Visiting Professor, St. Louis, MO

Selected Collections and Commissions

National Society of Social Policy and Practice, Washington, D.C.

First National Bank, Columbia, MO

St. Louis University High School, St. Louis, MO

Choice in Dying, New York, NY

Jefferson/Keeler Printing Company, St. Louis, MO