Elise Mahaffie received her B.F.A. from Syracuse University. She also completed a three year masters program at the Compass Atelier in Maryland. She currently lives in Jackson, Wyoming where she works as an artist as well as art director for Jackson Hole magazine. Her long career as a graphic designer has had a major influence on her stylized paintings. Being a graphic designer for a good part of her life has definitely influenced the way Elise interprets shapes and how she see things. Most of her work is cropped in tight which gives the paintings a somewhat graphic composition. She loves that it gives the viewer a very personal feeling of what is happening within each painting as well as the power to create ones own story. Elise has been involved in numerous national shows throughout the years. She has been recognized in Southwest magazine as an “Emerging Artist to Watch” as well as receiving first place in the wildlife category for Artist magazine’s “Annual Emerging Artist Competition”. She also received the Best Associate Award and 2nd Place in the Women Artists of the West past two annual shows. She was just recently accepted into the Society for Animal Artists and juried into their 65th Annual Exhibition. She is represented by West Lives On Gallery in Jackson Wyoming.