I am continuously amazed by the complexities which occur when repeating the same image twice. Somehow the interaction between the two characters becomes a hyperbolic central theme. Also, each figure is slightly different, with some features becoming more prominent, and the complete erasure of others. The themes in my artwork usually center on childhood: princesses, mermaids, Cheshire cats, butterflies, waitresses from a beloved childhood card game, figures from my favorite television show as a child. I am fascinated with twins, because I understand the bond of closeness to be more than most childhood relationships, since twins are together from before birth, hearing and seeing only one another. This bond reflects all familial bonds, from mother and child, to husband and wife. Animals are frequently used in my work because of this childhood fascination with animals as creatures that can be both objective and personal at the same time. biography Elise was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1970. Her first memories are of creating artwork, and she has been making art ever since. She went to Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, and received a B.F.A. in Jewelry/Metals and Painting, in 1993. She was a jeweler for two years, and then started graduate work at Purdue University, in Jewelry/Metals for one year. Purdue didn’t have an M.F.A. program, so Elise transferred to Kent State University, and received her M.F.A. in Jewelry/Metals there in 1999. She has shown her work fervently in juried and invitational exhibitions nationally and internationally, including shows at the Miami University Art Museum, Wayne Art Center, in Pennsylvania, Velvet da Vinci Gallery, in California, Decorative Arts Museum, in Arkansas, Ohio Crafts Museum, and Target Gallery, in Virginia, and she won third place in the Elvis Week 2002 Exhibition, at Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee. She received several travel grants to go to Greece in 2003, in order to do research on metal effigies found in churches there. Her work has always been figurative and humorous, and for the past years, has focused on the subject of twins, as a metaphor for relationships.