Where We Leave Our Things (detail) by Maxwell Yakush + mixed media panel by Elissa Greisz

A Closer Look  

The art of Elissa Greisz and Maxwell Yakush

April 3 - May 19, 2025

Jeanette Best Gallery
701 Water Street, Port Townsend, Washington

Free Artists' Talk and Q & A: Sunday, May 4, 3 PM in the gallery

ELISSA GREISZ hopes to inspire a sense of wonder. In her art, she uses iridescent diffraction foil, linoleum floor panels, cast-off aluminum printing plates, and a rich blend of references.

"I borrow from Byzantine art, my Mexican heritage, sci-fi illustrations, other art, jewelry and tattoos," Elissa says.

Born in Santa Barbara, California, Elissa earned a degree in pictorial arts from UCLA, then lived in Topanga Canyon outside Los Angeles. She later moved to Tacoma's Salmon Beach before coming to live in Port Townsend. Early in her career, Elissa was active in the feminist art movement and Womanspace, and worked with Judy Chicago to turn a West Los Angeles laundromat into a gallery.

Elissa's hybrid form of collage fills A Closer Look with sparkle and texture. "My process of pattern and repetition becomes my mantra. The transformation of inert materials becomes my modern-day alchemy."

MAXWELL YAKUSH grew up in Port Townsend — this was a great place to be a kid, he says — and has built a life as a machinist and artist. In his precisely crafted, heavily tooled artwork, he brings together smooth stones from North Beach, rock from an abandoned quarry, and images of animals and structures from around the world.

The sculptor spent 13 years in Washington, D.C., earning a fine arts degree from the Corcoran College of Art and Design, working at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and developing his architectural fabrication skills.

"I visited the museums all the time," Maxwell recalls. Now that his creations are part of this Northwind Art exhibit, he hopes they inspire curiosity in viewers, and a desire to come in, take a closer look, and discover how each piece resonates.