Crista Pisano

Crista Pisano's new contemporary paintings are rooted in the great tradition of American history. As a landscape painter living in the shadows of New York's Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains, Pisano is fortunate to be following in the footsteps of some of the greatest Hudson River School Painters from the 19th Century and American landscape painters that followed.

It is vital for a landscape painter to study outdoors in order to fully understand how to interpret nature. Pisano am very grateful that she was taught this at an early age. The ability to experience light, value, color, and atmospheric changes within nature firsthand has been crucial in her development as a landscape painter. The unpredictability of light phenomenon during each outing is the most exciting part of each painting she creates. These phenomena and other changes in nature force her to make important decisions about the mood and composition of every painting. It is the consistent study of natural elements and ever-changing atmospheric conditions that keep her returning to the outdoors and ultimately applying it to canvas.

Born and raised in northern New Jersey, Pisano began painting in oils in 1989 under the instruction of John Phillip Osborne at the Ridgewood Art Institute in Ridgewood, NJ. She graduated from the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in 2000, receiving her BFA in Painting, and in 2003, received her MFA in Painting from the New York Academy Graduate School of Figurative Art. Pisano paints landscapes mostly en plein air as well as in her studio in Nyack, NY, and is known for painting on a small scale. Influenced by the Hudson River School, she also loves the Macchiaioli, a group of Italian Painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the Nineteenth Century. Some of her favorite artists are George Inness, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Martin Johnson Heade, and Edward Lear.

Pisano is a member of numerous art organizations including the Barrett Art Center, the Rye Art Center, the Garrison Art Center, and the Lyme Art Association, where she is an Elected member. Additionally, she belongs to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission’s “Artists in the Parks” program and the Hopper House in Nyack, NY. Aside from participating in various plein air events throughout the year, she exhibits throughout New England and New York. She has received numerous awards and honors, including “Best in Show” at the Adirondack Plein Air Festival in both 2012 and 2014. She also won “Honorable Mention” at Plein Air Easton in 2015 and 2016. Plein Air Magazine included Pisano as one of their featured artists in their December/January 2016 issue. Recently, she received First Place at Art on the Avenue for her painting "Annapolis Harbor", Second Place at Paint the Bay, Annapolis Maritime Museum for her painting "Marina Before the Bay", and Second Place at Paint Annapolis for her painting "Harbor from Naval Academy". She currently lives and works in the Hudson River town of Nyack New York.

View images from Crista's 2019 exhibit Night Air.