Always busy creating, Elise Ordorica strives to reflect in her art nature’s simple but spectacular complexity. Glass is her primary material because it so beautifully embodies light and color. Working with the luminosity of glass is like molding, sculpting, even painting with light.
In her work, Elise often creates multiples on one shape, using color gradation and scaling to achieve the final effect. Using heat to determine the final look and texture, her pieces draw you in for closer inspection.
After graduating in 2000 from Alfred University, where she studied Art and Design, Elise Ordorica managed and directed Chappell Gallery, a renowned contemporary glass sculpture gallery in Boston, Ma. and New York City. Introduced to the world of high-end contemporary glass sculpture, particularly Japanese, Australian, and Czech glass, she discovered endless possibilities of working with this amazing material. She has worked and studied at the Pilchuck Glass School, Massachusettes College of Art, Edinburgh College of Art, and the Corning Museum of Glass. In 2005, Elise met Dorothy Lenehan, protégé to Narcissus Quagliata and owner of Lenehan Glass, an architectural glass firm in Oakland, Ca. Elise worked alongside Dorothy as the studio manager and fabricator. Together, they created one-of-a-kind glass doors, countertops, fountains, public art pieces, and large scale private commissions. The most impressive is a glass mural that consists of 390 panels, wrapping three sides of a building located in the SOMA district of San Francisco, Ca. In 2009, Elise was juried into a public art certification program in the San Francisco Bay Area. From 2015-2021, she taught glass fusing classes at the Bay Area Glass Institute in San Jose, CA. In 2016, she began collaborating with architect Bill Gould, owner of Artik Art and Architecture in San Jose, Ca., from this collaboration they create one of a kind installations, as well as private and public commissions. Recently, she started working for Cabrillo Gallery in Aptos, Ca. Elise continues to work on her own sculptural pieces, jewelry and architectural commissions.
In her work, Elise often creates multiples on one shape, using color gradation and scaling to achieve the final effect. Using heat to determine the final look and texture, her pieces draw you in for closer inspection.
After graduating in 2000 from Alfred University, where she studied Art and Design, Elise Ordorica managed and directed Chappell Gallery, a renowned contemporary glass sculpture gallery in Boston, Ma. and New York City. Introduced to the world of high-end contemporary glass sculpture, particularly Japanese, Australian, and Czech glass, she discovered endless possibilities of working with this amazing material. She has worked and studied at the Pilchuck Glass School, Massachusettes College of Art, Edinburgh College of Art, and the Corning Museum of Glass. In 2005, Elise met Dorothy Lenehan, protégé to Narcissus Quagliata and owner of Lenehan Glass, an architectural glass firm in Oakland, Ca. Elise worked alongside Dorothy as the studio manager and fabricator. Together, they created one-of-a-kind glass doors, countertops, fountains, public art pieces, and large scale private commissions. The most impressive is a glass mural that consists of 390 panels, wrapping three sides of a building located in the SOMA district of San Francisco, Ca. In 2009, Elise was juried into a public art certification program in the San Francisco Bay Area. From 2015-2021, she taught glass fusing classes at the Bay Area Glass Institute in San Jose, CA. In 2016, she began collaborating with architect Bill Gould, owner of Artik Art and Architecture in San Jose, Ca., from this collaboration they create one of a kind installations, as well as private and public commissions. Recently, she started working for Cabrillo Gallery in Aptos, Ca. Elise continues to work on her own sculptural pieces, jewelry and architectural commissions.
