My STORY
My name is Elise Waelder. I grew up in a creative household filled with art and music. My mom was a crafting master and my dad was a musician. Every halloween my mom would make elaborate costumes for my sister and me. Every Christmas Eve my dad's friends would storm the house with banjos, guitars, mandolins, accordions, and fiddles in hand prepared to play music late into the night. For birthdays, friends would come over and spend the day crafting Paper Mache hats, cigar box purses, or mosaic tiles. Whenever I was out with my mom and saw something I liked, her typical response was “we could make that” and more times than not we would go home, pull out the craft box and start creating.
Every summer my parents would enroll my sister and me in a week long art camp at the San Diego Zoo. This was where my love for art bloomed. Our teacher, Mr. Nyiri, would herd us around the zoo stopping at various enclosures to draw the animals. We used oil pastels and were encouraged to not let reality hold us back. Mr. Nyiri would push each of us to do what our hearts told us, creating hot pink gorillas, rainbow giraffes, and green zebras. I can still hear him telling us to “look, draw, look, draw.” Mr. Nyiri pushed us to use our imaginations and told us “there is no such thing as a mistake in art” which I tell myself to this day. I would not be the artist I am today without the influence of my parents and Mr. Nyiri. I’m eternally grateful to them.
Pictured is one of the woodblocks I carved and printed for my senior project at Wheaton College,MA
Art has always been a huge part of my life so when it came time to head off to college there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to pursue it. In 2016 I graduated from Wheaton College, MA with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and a minor in Psychology. My focus was in printmaking where I learned patience, to be detail oriented, and how to think in color.
Below are some photographs I took of my senior project which was dedicated to my dad.
A snapshot of my studio space at Wheaton college, MA
senior project
adventure & inspiration
at the beach
Born and raised in San Diego, California I spent a majority of my youth exploring the beaches that lined the coast. Over summer holidays you could find my friends and me jumping off cliffs, catching waves in a big yellow raft, or snorkeling at La Jolla Cove.
on a train
I have always craved adventure and rarely pass on an opportunity to trek across new territory. I have been fortunate enough to travel all over the world where I have come across stunning valleys, pink beaches, vast glaciers, and much more.
Current work
No matter where you are on earth, light and color are present and constantly influencing us. When combined, color and light have the power to shift our attention, alter our moods, mold our actions, and influence the way we interact with the world. Whether you're sitting at a stop light, picking out a new outfit, or deciding if a piece of food is edible, light and color affect even our most basic decisions on a daily basis.
It is the power of color and light that inspires me and influences my work. As I absorb the world around me I begin to understand it through swaths of color and use it as a means of self discovery and therapy. In my lifetime I’ve experienced loss, love, heartbreak, joy, frustration, anxiety, depression, and a whole host of other emotions. Throughout all these experiences, art has been a constant force that guides me through it. It is through my art that I have learned how to dissect, cope, and come to terms with myself and my emotions. It is what has kept me positive and lively even at my lowest points. I would be a shell of myself without art and specifically, color.
Through color, line, movement, and texture I have the ability to express and share emotions in a digestible way. I not only use art as a way of learning about myself, I use it as a means of spreading my own happiness to as many people as I can. I believe that happiness is contagious and happy people tend to be more patient, understanding, and willing to help others. We need more of this energy in the world and it is my intention to spread it.
