Today we’d like to introduce you to ELISE WAGNER.
Hi ELISE, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Our paths as artists began in very different places, but they eventually brought us together in a shared creative life.
Elise grew up in New Jersey and has spent her career as a painter and printmaker, always drawn to experimentation and the intersection of art and science. Over the years she’s become known for her work in encaustic painting and for developing the Wax Collagraph printmaking process and product. Her work explores themes of water, mapping, change, and resilience through layered surfaces that record time and transformation.
Gabe grew up in Sweet Home, Oregon, where he discovered a love of drawing and painting at an early age. That passion led him to become one of the Northwest’s leading photorealist painters. His work is celebrated for its remarkable technical precision and its ability to transform ordinary objects and fleeting moments into paintings filled with light, presence, and quiet beauty.
People often ask how we met, and the funny thing is we’d actually known of each other for years through the Portland art community. We’d seen each other’s work in galleries but had never really connected.
In 2014, Elise saw Gabe featured on Oregon Art Beat and sent him a message to congratulate him and let him know she enjoyed the episode. (She had actually been featured on the show herself back in 2001.) A few years later, Gabe stopped by one of Elise’s open studios, but our paths only crossed briefly. She remembers him commenting on how meticulously organized my studio was.
Everything changed in 2022. When Elise announced she was moving to Astoria, Gabe sent a message that simply said, “Elise! You’re moving to Astoria? WTF?” A month later, Gabe was coming to town for the day just to get away. Eager to see what she was working on, he asked if he could visit her new studio. We immediately connected and became friends. Since we were both preparing for solo exhibitions—Gabe’s in April and Elise’s in June—we quickly found ourselves talking about our work, sharing ideas, and encouraging each other through the creative process. Studio visits became regular phone calls, which turned into FaceTime conversations.
Gabe came to Elise’s opening that June and surprised her by purchasing two of her paintings. A few weeks later, she invited him back to Astoria for the Fourth of July. A week after that, we went on our first official date.
Looking back, it feels as though we spent years orbiting one another through the art world before the timing was finally right. Today, we’re grateful that friendship became love, and that we now get to share not only our lives together but also the privilege of supporting each other as artists every day.
Today, we live and work together at Pier 11 Studio in Astoria, Oregon, a space that hovers over the Columbia River just outside our windows. Although our artistic styles are worlds apart—Gabe’s meticulous realism and my abstract explorations in molten wax—we’re both driven by curiosity, observation, and a lifelong commitment to our craft and we’ve discovered that as artists, we are continually trying to solve similar problems in our process.
Right now, we’re both immersed in preparing for major solo exhibitions, and surprisingly, it’s one of the most rewarding seasons we’ve shared. We each understand what’s at stake and instinctively know when to step in, give space, or offer encouragement. Our mutual respect for each other’s work and our unwavering support through the pressures of deadlines have shown us just how strong a team we’ve become. Gabe is preparing for his solo exhibition at Russo Lee Gallery in Portland, while Elise is completing Finding Buoyancy for Imogen Gallery in Astoria. Shortly after, Elise will also present her first solo exhibition at the newly opened Lost in Composition Gallery in Seattle. In a fitting reflection of our partnership, Gabe’s artist talk in Portland is the very morning of Elise’s opening day in Astoria—and Elise fully intends to be at both. It will make for a very full day, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a busy chapter, but one that reminds us how fortunate we are to champion each other’s dreams while pursuing our own.
Beyond our individual studio practices, we’ve built Pier 11 Studio into a creative hub where we teach and host workshops and exhibitions. We welcome visiting artists to Astoria and create opportunities for others locally and beyond to experience art on the Northern Coast of Oregon. Our relationship is grounded in a profound mutual respect. We challenge each other, celebrate one another’s successes, and understand the discipline it takes to sustain a life in the arts.
Together, we’ve built not just a shared studio, but a shared creative life—one that continues to inspire both our individual work and the community we’ve created around it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like most artists, our journey has been anything but a smooth road. Building a life in the arts requires resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to keep going even when the path isn’t clear.
Over our decades-long careers, we have learned how to make friends with the uncertainty that comes with being full-time artists—economic ups and downs, shifting galleries, the fluctuating trends of the art market along with the challenge of balancing the business of art and the necessity to protect time for making it. Success rarely happens in a straight line, and we’ve each learned to see obstacles as opportunities to evolve rather than reasons to stop. We both share an optimistic mindset.
For Elise, one of the biggest turning points came after the loss of her father, which led to leaving a home and studio of nearly forty years in Portland and beginning again in Astoria. The added losses of her mother and sister this past year created a transition that profoundly shaped her work, inspiring new ideas centered on water, navigation, and finding buoyancy through change.
For Gabe, the challenge has been remaining committed to the demanding discipline of photorealism in a world that often favors speed over patience. His paintings require an extraordinary investment of time, focus, and technical precision, making perseverance an essential part of his practice.
As a couple, we’ve also learned how to balance two independent artistic careers while building a shared life and business. Running Pier 11 Studio, teaching, hosting events, and preparing for exhibitions all require teamwork, flexibility, and a healthy sense of humor. Alongside my studio practice, I also developed and manufacture Wax Collagraph Print Wax, a product born from my innovation of a new printmaking method that replaces the traditional collage materials of collagraph with the textures of wax. It has grown into an international business, allowing me to share both the material and the process with artists around the world. We challenge one another, support one another through disappointments, and celebrate each success together.
Looking back on everything, we wouldn’t change a thing—the good, the bad, or the ugly—that we’ve experienced together so far. Since Gabe proposed at the Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, a place long associated with the idea that love conquers all, we’ve come to believe that this is our truth. We wouldn’t erase even the most difficult moments, because they’ve deepened our partnership, strengthened our love, and brought us even closer together.They’ve shaped not only the artists we’ve become, but also the partnership we’ve built. Every challenge has strengthened our belief that a creative life isn’t about avoiding uncertainty—it’s about learning to navigate it together and that love conquers all.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Question: What makes you happy? Why?
Answer:
What makes us happiest is making art. It sounds simple, but it’s the truth. There’s something deeply satisfying about spending the day in the studio solving visual problems, discovering something unexpected, and watching an idea slowly come to life.
For Gabe, happiness comes from the quiet concentration of painting and the challenge of capturing light so convincingly that an ordinary subject becomes extraordinary. He’s endlessly inspired by observation and the discipline of continually refining his craft.
For Elise, happiness comes from experimentation and discovery. Working with molten wax means collaborating with the material itself, embracing both intention and surprise. Living and working above the Columbia River provides a constant source of inspiration, where the movement of water, changing weather, and shifting light find their way into the work.
Beyond the studio, what brings us the most joy is sharing this creative life together. We love opening the doors of Pier 11 Studio, welcoming visitors, teaching workshops, talking with collectors and fellow artists, and watching people connect with art in meaningful ways.
We’re both unapologetic color and art history geeks, so whenever we travel you’ll usually find us in museums. From our memorable date at Tate Modern in London to countless galleries and museums along the way from London to Los Angeles to Houston, exploring art together continues to inspire our own work and spark great conversations. We also love taking our sweet pup Willo for long walks on the beach, coming home to cuddle with our Rothko kitty, and simply enjoying the everyday moments that make this creative life so rewarding. Along the way, we encourage one another through the inevitable challenges of an artistic career and celebrate every accomplishment, big and small.
Ultimately, what makes us happy is living a life rooted in creativity, curiosity, and community. We feel incredibly fortunate that what we love most is also what we get to do every day.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Elise:
My biggest leap of faith was buying a one-way ticket from New York to a place I’d never been before called Portland, Oregon when I was nineteen years old. I didn’t know a soul, had very little money, and no guarantees that things would work out. Looking back, that single decision shaped the entire course of my life. It taught me that sometimes you have to leap before you can see where you’ll land.
Since then, every meaningful thing I’ve done has involved one leap of faith or another—choosing to become a full-time artist, developing my Wax Collagraph process and eventually turning it into a business, moving from Portland after nearly four decades to build a life in Astoria, opening Pier 11 Studio, and beginning this new chapter of life and work with Gabe.
I’ve learned that uncertainty isn’t something to fear. Every painting begins without a clear map, and every exhibition asks you to share something deeply personal without knowing how it will be received. Looking back, the biggest leaps of faith I’ve taken have also brought the greatest rewards. In many ways, that’s exactly what my upcoming exhibition, Finding Buoyancy, is about—trusting yourself enough to stay afloat while navigating unfamiliar waters.
Gabe:
I wouldn’t consider myself a risk-taker in the conventional sense of the word, but I have certainly taken a number of leaps of faith. To me, there’s an important distinction. Most of the decisions I’ve made have been carefully considered. I research, plan, and weigh the possibilities. But no matter how much preparation you do, eventually you still have to step into the unknown.
One of the biggest leaps of faith I’ve taken was leaving Portland after nearly thirty years to move to Astoria last October to build a life with Elise. I was leaving behind my community, my routine, the city that had shaped so much of my career, and the steady presence in my children’s lives that I had always been close to. It wasn’t a decision I made lightly, but it felt like the right one. Like so many important decisions in life, there was no guarantee of how everything would unfold—only the confidence that it was worth taking the leap.
I think those leaps have become easier because I’ve learned to trust my instincts. The better you know yourself, the easier it becomes to understand what’s truly at stake and what isn’t. That self-awareness doesn’t eliminate uncertainty, but it makes it feel less intimidating.
As an artist, you have to accept that there are no guarantees. Every new body of work, every exhibition, and every major life decision comes with uncertainty. I’ve found that some of the most rewarding experiences in my life and career have come from embracing that uncertainty rather than trying to avoid it. Moving to Astoria has only reinforced that belief. Sometimes the greatest rewards come from having the courage to leave what’s familiar behind in order to discover what’s possible.
Pricing:
- Night VW Bus, 2026. Oil on Panel. 30” x 20”. $3800
- Photographer on the Beach, 2026. Oil on panel. 20″x30″. $3800
- Buoyancy Compass, 2026. Ink jet photo on Kozo paper, encaustic and oil on panel. 12″ x 37″. $2,200
- Finding Buoyancy Study 1., 2026. Ink jet photo on Kozo paper, encaustic and oil on panel. 11″ x 9″. $1,250
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pier11studio.com/ ; https://www.elisewagner.com/ ; https://gabefernandez.com/index.html ; https://www.printwax.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/print.wax/ ; https://www.instagram.com/pier11studio/ ; https://www.instagram.com/gabethepainter/ ; https://www.instagram.com/elisewagnerstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WagnerPrintWax ; https://www.facebook.com/Pier11Studio
