About the Artist

Artist's Statement

When collectors call my work "suggestive" I smile, for teasing the imagination is part of my intent. If you look at one of my brooches and find yourself thinking about budding plants or reflections off a rippling stream, then I have done my job. As you handle my earrings, if you're suddenly musing about succulent fruit, then you've realized my intent. Through abstract form, luminous surface and subtle color blends, my artwork functions as a touchstone to the pleasures and mysteries of nature.

Background and Training

Elise Winters grew up in Rochester, New York, where her family's metalworking business nurtured her drive for designing and building innovative hand-tools for artists. While earning arts degrees from Syracuse University, Montclair State University, and The New School, Elise first encountered the mysteries of color and light and the lure of ceramic clay.

As a professional potter, she loved the malleability of earthenware clay, twisting and shaping it into full organic forms. Later, as a photographer, she was seduced by the subtle play of color and light - by reflection, translucence, the ephemeral colors of the sky.

Time spent in Japan enriched her studies of ceramics and sumi-e brush painting. The Japanese influence, in both its reverence for nature and its respect for subtlety of design, has profoundly informed Elise's work with luminous polymer clay jewelry.

The Crazed Acrylic Technique

Her signature pieces of jewelry and sculpture feature a technique she has come to call "crazed acrylic" - a subtle combination of polymer clay with acrylic paints which results in shimmering, colorful surfaces that appear to glow from within.

This innovative technique emerged from years of experimentation, combining her background in ceramics with her photographer's eye for capturing light. The result is surfaces that shift and change as they move, catching light in ways that traditional materials cannot achieve. Learn more about the technique.

Recognition and Awards

Elise is recognized as one of the nation's leading polymer clay artists and jewelry designers. Her work has been illustrated and written about in numerous books and periodicals.

Awards and Honors

• 2003 NICHE Award Winner
• 2005 NICHE Award Finalist
• 2006 NICHE Award Finalist
• Golden Artist Colors Corporate Collection Commission (2005)

Magazine Features

• The Craft Report (Cover feature, February 2006)
• American Craft Magazine
• Ornament Magazine (Artist profile)
• American Style
• Lapidary Journal
• Metalsmith
• Niche Magazine

Books Featuring Her Work

• The Art of Polymer Clay by Donna Kato (1997)
• Artists at Work by Lindly Haunani and Pierette Ashcroft (1996)
• Creating with Polymer Clay by Steven Ford (1995)
• Foundations in Polymer Clay Design by Barbara McGuire (1999)
• Polymer Clay: Exploring New Techniques by Georgia Sargeant and Celie Fago (2002)
• 400 Polymer Clay Designs, Lark Books (2004)

Teaching and Curating

From time to time, Elise curates exhibitions with the purpose of educating the public about the finest work being done in polymer clay. She also teaches and lectures about her work and the medium.

Curated Exhibitions

• Moves in Polymer Clay, Brookfield CT (2003)
• Illuminating a Medium: Polymer Retrospective, Bryn Mawr PA (2001)
• 8X10 In Polymer Clay, Haworth NJ (1998, 1999)
• Masters' Invitational Polymer Clay Exhibition, Demarest NJ (1997)

Teaching Venues

• 92nd Street Y, New York NY
• Fashion Institute of Technology
• National Polymer Clay Guild Conference
• Art League School, Alexandria VA
• Ravensdale Polymer Clay Conferences (1996, 1998, 2000)

View the complete list of galleries and museums where Elise's work has been exhibited and sold.