Luise Clayborn Kaish (1925 – 2013) was an American artist known for her work in sculpture, painting, and collage. She earned her B.F.A. from Syracuse University in 1946. After winning a grant to study internationally, she then traveled to Mexico City where she attended the Escuela de Pintura y Escultura. In addition to working in painting, etching, and lithography, she sang with the National Conservatory chorus in Mexico City and rode with the Mexican Olympic riding team. She later pursued an M.F.A. at Syracuse University in New York.
Her work was exhibited and collected by major museums and she created monumental sculptures in bronze, aluminum, and stainless steel, which remain on view in educational, religious, and commercial settings across the United States and internationally. After moving to Greenwich Village in New York in 1958, Kaish expanded the scope of her work earning a Guggenheim Fellowship, several major commissions, and a 1972 Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome. During the late 1960's she began turning more strongly to abstraction, using it to address spiritual and social themes. In 1961, she had her first solo show of sculpture at Staempfli Gallery, and she began to explore themes related to light, space, and voyages. By the 1970s, Kaish began working in painting and collage, exhibiting once again her lyricism, contemporary spirit, influence of Abstract Expressionism and Cubism. She was able, throughout her career, to focus on different motifs that boasted a range of interests earning her fame and longevity in the art world.
