Kristi Pfister
Caryatids are columns in the form of standing female figures. Dynamic in their physicality, they symbolize collective strength. Caryatids are stoic, powerful, balanced, and yet art history has misinterpreted them as figures of entrapment and subjugation. These women as columns are not silent, nor are they burdened by the weight they carry.
Dorothy Day was a twentieth century journalist and activist who fused political action for workers’ rights with moral tenets of compassion for the poor. Day is a modern day devotional caryatid. Uncensored and unsilenced, she shouted out her philosophical beliefs and led a movement for change
Kristi Pfister is a painter and public artist. She is fascinated by ideas concerning transparency and translucency which she explores through different art mediums. Pfister’s recent solo exhibition, Columns & Caryatids at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, used drawing, painting, suspended fabrics, and collaged shadows to comment on democracy, classical architecture, ruins, and women.
Pfister studied Visual Art at Barnard College, Columbia University and received her Master’s degree from Pratt Institute. She’s had solo exhibitions at Wagner College Art Gallery and the Noble Maritime Collection and participates in group shows throughout the region. Her public artwork includes interior and exterior wall murals and mosaics funded through the Percent for Art Program, NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Staten Island Zoo. Pfister is a strong advocate for art education having worked as a teaching artist with many schools, cultural institutions, and arts organizations in NYC.
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