Elisa says 'For me, Batik is a ticket for a fascinating adventure which takes you to discover immense possibilities of creating very personal images with a marbling effect'.
Elisa was born in Guatemala where she grew up and got her degree in Interior Design. It was later, in the United States where she did Fine Art studies at the University of Texas and specialised on textiles. Batik was the technique she fell in love with and this has been the main medium of her work during the past 20 years. Initially, her technique was very traditional using tjanting tools, brushes and dipping and dyeing on different qualities of cotton material.
Years later, she moved to Geneva and painting on silk was in fashion. This technique gave her the opportunity of working with a wider range of colours and since then her Batiks are a combination of wax resist, dip dyeing and hand-painting.
Nowadays, she works mostly on different types of silk according to the theme and effect she wants to give to her art pieces. She then creates a 3D effect by applying machine embroidery and trapunto on her work. Nature, portraits, her surroundings and memories from her country have been her sources of inspiration. On her latest work she is moving towards abstract images suggesting movement. Her work is normally stretched on foam boards or artist’s stretchers and then normally framed.
Elisa has exhibited in United States, France, Switzerland, Denmark and the United Kingdom. She undertakes commissions for private collections and her work has also been used for publicity purposes.