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Tickets $20 | Registration Encouraged, Walk-ins welcome as space allows
Hoffman Center for the Arts | 594 Laneda Avenue | Manzanita
Join artists Elise Wagner and Gabe Fernandez for a talk and slide presentation about art, partnership, and place. Working side by side at the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean in Astoria, Wagner’s abstract encaustic paintings and collagraph prints explore layered natural systems, while Fernandez’s hyperrealist paintings capture the precision of light and observation.
Together, they’ll share the story of how they met, became engaged in Paris, and built a shared studio practice, offering insight into the balance of independent vision, creative dialogue, and life on the Oregon Coast.
About Elise
Elise Wagner is an abstract encaustic painter, printmaker, and educator based in Astoria, Oregon. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, she has lived and worked in Oregon since 1986. Wagner holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Portland State University with a minor in Art History, where she first discovered encaustic painting and began developing her distinctive approach to the medium.
Known for her luminous, layered works in wax, her practice explores the intersection of natural systems, scientific inquiry, and the unseen forces that shape our world. A recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, she has exhibited nationally and internationally and is the innovator behind recently AP approved Wagner Collagraph Wax, a material that has expanded contemporary printmaking practices. She teaches workshops and lectures both nationally and internationally and, schedule permitting, from her studio on the Oregon Coast.
About Gabe
Gabe Fernandez is a hyperrealist painter based on the Oregon Coast, where he maintains a studio along the Columbia River. Born in Idaho and raised in Sweet Home Oregon, he studied art at Pacific Northwest College of Art with a focus on painting and drawing, developing a strong foundation in observation, technique, and classical approaches to realism.
His work is rooted in close observation and technical precision, capturing subtle shifts of light, texture, and atmosphere with striking clarity. Through a meticulous process, his paintings invite viewers to slow down and engage deeply with the act of seeing. Working in contrast to abstraction, Fernandez’s practice is grounded in realism yet shares a similar spirit of inquiry, exploring perception, presence, and the relationship between image and experience.
Tickets $20 | Registration Encouraged, Walk-ins welcome as space allows
Hoffman Center for the Arts | 594 Laneda Avenue | Manzanita
Join artists Elise Wagner and Gabe Fernandez for a talk and slide presentation about art, partnership, and place. Working side by side at the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean in Astoria, Wagner’s abstract encaustic paintings and collagraph prints explore layered natural systems, while Fernandez’s hyperrealist paintings capture the precision of light and observation.
Together, they’ll share the story of how they met, became engaged in Paris, and built a shared studio practice, offering insight into the balance of independent vision, creative dialogue, and life on the Oregon Coast.
About Elise
Elise Wagner is an abstract encaustic painter, printmaker, and educator based in Astoria, Oregon. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, she has lived and worked in Oregon since 1986. Wagner holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Portland State University with a minor in Art History, where she first discovered encaustic painting and began developing her distinctive approach to the medium.
Known for her luminous, layered works in wax, her practice explores the intersection of natural systems, scientific inquiry, and the unseen forces that shape our world. A recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, she has exhibited nationally and internationally and is the innovator behind recently AP approved Wagner Collagraph Wax, a material that has expanded contemporary printmaking practices. She teaches workshops and lectures both nationally and internationally and, schedule permitting, from her studio on the Oregon Coast.
About Gabe
Gabe Fernandez is a hyperrealist painter based on the Oregon Coast, where he maintains a studio along the Columbia River. Born in Idaho and raised in Sweet Home Oregon, he studied art at Pacific Northwest College of Art with a focus on painting and drawing, developing a strong foundation in observation, technique, and classical approaches to realism.
His work is rooted in close observation and technical precision, capturing subtle shifts of light, texture, and atmosphere with striking clarity. Through a meticulous process, his paintings invite viewers to slow down and engage deeply with the act of seeing. Working in contrast to abstraction, Fernandez’s practice is grounded in realism yet shares a similar spirit of inquiry, exploring perception, presence, and the relationship between image and experience.