Eliseo Nicolás Alonso

Eliseo Nicolás Alonso (15 February 1955 – 2 June 2012) was an Asturian artisan who was known as Lise and mainly by his work with jet. He was a sculptor and woodcarver.^[1]

Lise
Lise at work in 2006
Born	Eliseo Nicolás Alonso (1955-02-15)15 February 1955 Agones, Pravia, Spain
Died	2 June 2012(2012-06-02) (aged 57) Pereda, Grado, Asturias, Spain
Known for	Woodcarving sculpting jet (lignite)

Biography

Plaza Eliseo Nicolás "Lise", Maestro Azabachero, inaugurated in the year 2014.^[2]

Eliseo Nicolás Alonso was born in Agones, Pravia and lived with his family in the school-house of Reconco. He was an artisan who could be considered an artist. His workshop was in the lower level of his home.^[3]

He was trained as a General Basic Education Teacher, but did not practice. He had an early inclination for the plastic arts. Lise was self-taught, and first used clay and wood as the materials to study forms. His first exposition for wood carving was in 1973.

He died 2 June 2012 in Pereda, Grado, Asturias

Work

Woodcarving of ”el Cuélebre”; Asturian mythology: a small sculpture of an owl made of Asturian jet, and wood (Buxus and Taxus).

The need to find large pieces of jet, and the unavailability of the gem, made him inquire about mixtures, taraceas, and other materials such as fine woods, gold, silver, ivory, etc. chosen by considering their colors and hues, as well as their hardness, all to be compatible with the main material of choice which was jet.

Of his first works as a woodcarver, the technique displayed on the staff from the Spanish municipality, the Ayuntamiento de Candamo is worth noting, as well as his carving at the Capilla de Dolores in Grado, with its bells made of jet.

Later, he became recognized because of his new techniques which included work embedding, pouring or combining materials which included fine woods and ivory. Prior to his work, the work done on jet was limited to carving and embellishing with precious metals. Of his notable works in jet, the piece "San Miguel de Lillo" reflects the pre-Roman Asturias.