For a moment in the late ‘aughts, the term “ephemeral” was everywhere; often associated with teen TikTok conversations that never led anywhere productive, the word has lost its traction with mainstream media in the last half a decade. And yet, the idea — enjoying things for a short time — has had a lasting effect. It seems everything on social media is built for an audience that consumes content in short bursts, while anything longform has lost its appeal.
While the term tends to instinctively generate negative connotations, there is something particularly spectacular about a moment that’s fleeting. During the inaugural Literary Festival, locals were invited to share their story at Art & Soul Gallery on State Street for The Strangers Project, a deeply moving roving art exhibit that invites everyone to craft a story on the spot.
The work Elisa Jay does may be considered ephemeral, but it has a lasting impact. The chalk artist has held a space at Hilt Estate in Lompoc since July 2024, meticulously crafting pastoral landscapes in the foyer of the winery. And just as quickly as her work becomes part of the space, it’s gone again — every few months, the team scrubs the board dry, and Jay starts all over.
Jay tries to convey this unconventional artistic medium, and her means to securing her role — she simply approached the team while wine tasting one day, noticing the blank chalkboard space hovering near the entrance — as it relates to the pandemic. When looking back at the early days of 2020, it was clear that humans needed to lean on each other more than ever. “The distinct takeaway I got from [the pandemic] was when you think of a nice thing, try to do it as soon as possible,” she says. “Just do the nice thing … because nothing makes sense. That philosophy tends to guide my artistic endeavors sometimes.”
Jay never imagined a world in which she covered large swatches of chalkboard with endless arrays of colorful pastels. A Chicago native, she was thrown into the world of caregiving as a young adult when her father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. A child of literature, Jay always imagined a career in the world of books and writing. And yet, her philosophy to leap blindly toward niceness has led her here, celebrated for her stunning work in her new hometown.
Finished in short bursts of time over the course of a week, Danielle Dally, director of DTC sales at the Hilt, loves that Jay and her family have become an “extension” of the Hilt family. “She continues to bring life and soul to the space,” says Dally. “It’s a wonderful conversational piece; customers love it, and we get to chat about the process behind it.”
While she’d held exhibits over the years since she and her family moved from Los Angeles to the area, Jay is still coming to terms with the title “artist.” Much like her role in taking care of her ailing father, the leap to chalk artist tested her own capacity. “I didn’t have a traditional pursuit of the [art] career because I was so busy caring for my dad,” she says. “But the disordered way in which things have happened has given me the time and space to make peace with a lot of things not being very traditional.” Life surprises us in so many ways. Her optimism is spurred by a passion for experimentation, something that’s always been true of her work in the field.
She’s worked on other commissioned pieces, but finds that art celebrated by many is her passion. The most recent piece, which was completed in late June, just in time to celebrate the Hilt Estate’s five-year anniversary of their barn, took about 21 hours to complete. “I really enjoy [work] that can be more publicly enjoyed,” she says. “Like, if you’re going through the effort of making something so large, I do really enjoy that the art doesn’t really belong to any one [single person].”
See Elisa Jay’s work at the Barn at the Hilt Estate, 2240 Santa Rosa Road, Lompoc, thehiltestate.com/visit-us.
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