Elyse Pignolet

Early life and education

Born in Oakland, CA, Elyse Pignolet is an American with Filipino heritage. She studied fine arts at California State University, San Francisco. She continued her studies at California State University, Long Beach, on a CSU exchange program. In 2001 she lived in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain, studying arts and Spanish. She completed her BFA degree at CSU Long Beach in 2007. Her studies included an intensive ceramics exchange through mainland China in 2007, and participation in the International Ceramics Biennal in Korea, also in 2007.

Career

Elyse Pignolet works primarily in ceramics. The main themes she has pursued include social issues, topics from contemporary news articles, and urban themes. She has created several bodies of work that place the extensive history of ceramics in contrast with the temporary nature of graffiti. Other ceramics projects have juxtaposed the brash nature of political news headlines with the subtle shapes of traditional ceramic forms.

In 2016, Pignolet was commissioned by the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) to create a site-specific ceramic tile wall mural for the exhibition "American Qur'an". It is 16 feet high and 14 feet across, and features elaborate decorative designs and verses. In 2017, the artwork was acquired by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon.

Pignolet was awarded a commission by the Los Angeles County Cultural Affairs Dept. in 2016 to complete a large, ceramic tile mural depicting the history of the neighborhood of San Pedro. The mural will be installed on the newly renovated Gaffey Street Public Swimming Pool, a.k.a. "Hey Rookie" pool, in 2017.

A book, The Depravities of War, featuring her work in printmaking, was scheduled for release in Sept. 2007 from Grand Central Publishing in Santa Ana, CA.

An exhibition of her drawings were exhibited at the Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco in June and July 2008.

Her works have been featured in several contemporary arts publications including the LA Weekly, Juxtapoz Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times.

Collaborations

Pignolet has collaborated with other artists as studio assistant and in many public art projects. Working with Tom Barter, she has completed large scale public projects in Long Beach, CA, and Signal Hill, CA. She has also collaborated with Sandow Birk on three public projects in Los Angeles, CA, including the Tarzana Metro Station on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Orange Line, as well as the LAPD Hollenbeck Division Police Station murals in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles.

Movie career

Elyse Pignolet was art director for the movie Dante's Inferno, in 2007. The film is told in toy theatre style puppetry and premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2007. It won the Best Director Award at the Silverlake Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2007, and won the Audience Favorite Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2007.

Pignolet worked on the film "In Smog and Thunder" from Smart Art Press. She has appeared in videos for Quiksilver clothing company.