Elisa Brown

Statement: A common thread throughout my work is a devotion to the human body as an expressive subject. Human forms and faces are inherently communicative and holding them at the core of my visual language allows me to bridge the chasm between artist and audience. This full-scale portrait was an exercise in color theory and proportions, which I created using a set of five chalk pastels on butcher paper. 

Bio: Elisa Brown was born in Ann Arbor, MI in 1992 and currently resides in Olympia, WA where she is studying visual arts at the Evergreen State College. Elisa is balancing an in-depth exploration of oil painting and the abject while working as a technical assistant in the campus wood shop. Elisa is primarily a self-taught artist, though she is now taking full advantage of the opportunities afforded to her as a student to expand her practice and gain proficiency in a variety of media. Elisa works with fiber, wood, and 2D media to create pieces with a focus on exploring the construction of identity, a topic on which she fancies herself a podcast savant. Elisa travelled the country extensively in her early 20s, surviving on odd jobs, farm work, and paid medical studies. In 2015 she completed a six-month long thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, and in 2016 she backpacked across Europe before moving to Washington to attend college. She and her partner share a home in Olympia and hope to make their way to a warmer climate after completing their studies.