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Name: Elyse-Krista Mische

Residence: Appleton

Medium: 2D and 3D Drawing

Experimenting in nearly every art form, Appleton artist Elyse-Krista Mische is a mixed media artist. “I work with most any media,” she says. “My favorite would have to be drawing.” For Mische, drawing isn’t always what it seems. “I turn my drawings into 3D art pieces to bring them life.”

Art has always been a part of Mische’s life, but it took a serious turn while she was studying pre-medicine at Appleton’s Lawrence University. “My freshman year I remember sitting in a botany class learning about plant reproduction, doodling in my notebook and thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ My notebooks were quickly being filled with more drawings than notes,” she says. “In my sophomore year, I realized I needed to be an artist.”

During her time at Lawrence, Mische mainly focused on drawing and printmaking, interspersed with some ceramics classes. After graduating from Lawrence in 2011, Mische created Worry Birds, an Etsy business specializing in handmade ceramic birds reminding people not to worry. In 2014, while serving as manager of The Fire art studio in Appleton, Mische went to North Carolina to learn how to blacksmith. That’s not a typo – she learned the trade typically associated with Medieval times. “The point of going was to learn to work with more textiles, metals and sculptures,” Mische says.

Proving her diverse artistic skills even further, Mische recently completed a three-story mural in downtown Kaukauna as part of the second Bazaar After Dark night market. The mural is based on Mische’s “Tick Tock Tapestry,” a piece embracing growth, vibrancy and the ephemeral.

“The mural [is] a bold statement piece and adds a funky floral, feel-good elegance to downtown Kaukauna,” Mische says.

 

This month Mische will travel to Orgiva, Spain for a residency with Kids Space. She was also awarded a residency with Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee that runs from June to May 2018. Fox Valley locals can see Mische’s work at the Friend of a Friend art exhibit at The Draw in Appleton during the month of May.

From her travels near and far to mundane daily interactions, Mische says her artistic work serves as a scrapbook of her experiences.

“I am a very observant person,” she says. “From the stories I overhear to the people I see, my art is my way of documenting memories into a story.”

Artist Spotlight