Jan 18: Featured Artist: Elisa Pritzker

January 2018: Featured Artist

Award-Winning Artist:
Elisa Pritzker
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Photo credit: Warren Cosgrove

Elisa Pritzker is an American artist and independent curator who was born in Argentina and has lived in Ulster County, NY for over twenty years. Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions and renowned venues, such as MoMA, Queens Museum, Dorsky Museum, and the National Institute of Art in Taipei, Taiwan, to name a few. She was selected the U.S. representative artist for “The Pyramids of Naxos,” Greece (an international project for the 2004 Olympic Games). She participated in the International Art Biennial in Gardur, Iceland (December 2015 through January 2016), and, for the second time, she was part of the 2017 Jerusalem Biennale in Jerusalem, Israel.

She has received numerous awards, including two U.S. Congressional Awards for achievements and service in the area of Community Arts and Culture and the Ulster County Executive Hispanic Heritage Award (NY). Her work has been highlighted in the Huffington Post, CNN (in Spanish), PBS Channel, and her "Eclectica Store" was showcased in The New York Times. Her personal journey as an artist was recorded by Lisia Leon for StoryCorps (Library of Congress, New York, NY) on Nov. 7, 2010.

Elisa has supported the arts in her community in various ways. She writes a monthly column, “The Corner of the Arts” (“La Esquina de las Artes”), which features other Latino artists, museums and galleries. It is published in La Voz (a Bard College magazine) and ABClatino, a bilingual media network. (*See links below.) She also co-founded the Highland Cultural Center/HCC-Artswith with her husband Enrique Rob Lunski. This cultural center provided countless community activities for over a decade.

Elisa's Selknam Project:

The Selknam were indigenous people in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina and Chile, including the Tierra del Fuego Islands.
Elisa's Selknam Project is a visual homage to a rich and deep civilization that is now totally extinct.

Elisa explains, "After a trip more than ten years ago to Ushuaia -known as the last city at the end of the world - situated in southern Patagonia in the Island of Tierra del Fuego (the land of fire), I felt compelled to research the lifestyle and spiritual-shamanic beliefs of the Selknams. I have always questioned humanity's ongoing violence towards other cultures. Honoring the Selknam is a reminder that there are still many inhuman acts everywhere. In spite of this, I continue to hope for a better world."

Elisa talks about her work...what inspires her...what moves her to create...

During 2017, a solo exhibition-installation of the Selknam Project was presented at the HVCCA (Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art) in Peekskill, NY. The “Spirit of the Selknams” short film by Stephen Blauweiss aired on PBS on October 14, 2015 and is shown ongoing on PBS online and on YouTube.