 |
Phyllis Seltzer: Biographical Sketch
Phyllis Seltzer was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1928, and
has been a Clevelander (Ohio) since the age of three. She received
a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from the University
of Iowa, majoring in printmaking under Mauricio Lasansky. Post
Graduate studies include architecture at the University of Michigan,
and history of technology at Case Western Reserve University
in Cleveland.
Architectural essence pervades Seltzer's oil paintings, which
become the plates for works skillfully adapted to create giant
prints in a heat-transfer technique that enriches the image as
it allows for multiple small-edition printing. Extensively traveled,
with a home in Venice, Italy, Seltzer captures the essence of
her favorite cities -- Cleveland, New York, Chicago and Venice,
as recognizable "city"scapes filled with recognizable
landmarks that take liberties with things as they are. According
to Seltzer, "I am preoccupied with the actual world and
yet wish to design that world -- structure it -- with color,
line and (technical means) so that I create my own aesthetic."
In 1952, the year Seltzer finished college, the Cleveland Museum
of Art bought her etching Stage of Life. The same print
won first prize in an international print show and was purchased
by the Brooklyn Museum. The following year Seltzer received a
Tiffany fellowship, capping a notably auspicious beginning to
her career. In 1989 she became one of the relative few to have
a work, Venetian Sky, a heat-transfer print of Venetian
landmark buildings, commissioned for publication by the Print
Club of Cleveland. In 1993, Interplay, another heat-transfer
print, was purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art, the same
year she finished a major mural for Cleveland's new sports complex,
Jacob's Field.
Seltzer has exhibited her art in nearly 50 exhibitions throughout
this country and in Germany, Hong Kong and Italy. She has had
nine solo exhibitions. Her most recent, Phyllis Seltzer: Heat Transfer Prints, was held at the SG Gallery in Venice, Italy
in 1994. Recently, her work was included in exhibitions, including
Artists Reflects Society in Washington, DC and the 26th Annual Print Exhibition in Palm Springs, CA.
Seltzer's work is included in more than 30 public and corporate
collections, among them the Brooklyn Art Museum, the National
Gallery of Art in Ottawa, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the
Center for Contemporary Art in Cleveland. Corporate collections
include BP America in London, England, The Cleveland Plain Dealer,
Citibank in New York City and United Airlines in Chicago.
Phyllis Seltzer works in her studios in Cleveland and Venice,
and is represented by galleries in Cleveland, Columbus, Boston,
Chicago, New York and Washington, DC.
_108.jpg)
