encaustic art institute magazine summer 2012
DESCRIPTION
This is a online art magazine produced by the Encaustic Art Istitute located in Cerrillos, New Mexico. A Non Profit Organization.TRANSCRIPT
2012 Summer
R & F Paints
Cari Hernandez
Ann Huffman
Ellen Koment
Dorothy Mason
Marybeth Rothman
Norman Soskel
Linda Womack
Daniella Woolf
Up Coming EventsArtist Calendar
©2012 OWNERSHIP OF DESIGN this information prepared by Encaustic Art Institute shall remain the property thereto, and
shall retain all common law, statutory and other reserved rights, including the copyright thereto.
Summer 2012
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For More Information about the Encaustic Art Institute:Website: http://www.eainm.comBlog: http://www.eainm.blogspot.comFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Encaustic-Art-Institute/332917031347Founder:Douglas Mehrens, [email protected]
Encaustic Art Institute Administration: * Douglas Mehrens, Founder/CEO
President: *Sherry Ikeda, [email protected]
Board of Directors: * Glenn Fellows * Michael Allison * Perry Lovelace * Douglas Mehrens
Artist Board:* Russell Thurston, Program Director* Kari Gorden, Membership Director* Linda Fillhardt, Blog Coordinator* Barbara Gagel, Fund Raiser Coordinator* Teena Robinson, Graphics & Computer Support* Michael Phillip Pearce, Carbon Vudu LLC, Magazine Art Director.
Cover art by Ellen Koment, Artifact, 36” x 36”, 2008. The Encaustic Art Magazine is published by The Encaustic Art Institute, 18 General Goodwin Road, Cerrillos, NM 87010-9779
Greek word meaning “to heat or burn in” (enkaustikos). Encaustic:
The Encaustic Art Institute
Summer 2012
06 R & F PaintsPortfolio
12 Cari HernandezPortfolio
16 Ann HuffmanPortfolio
26 Dorothy MasonPortfolio
30 Marybeth RothmanPortfolio
34 Norman SoskelPortfolio
36 Linda WomackPortfolio
40 Daniella WoolfPortfolio
44Events
20 Ellen KomentPortfolio
04 From the InstituteEAI
05 Artist CalendarEAI
Convention/Exhibition
Dear Readers:
Welcome to the third edition of the Encaustic Arts Magazine, the semi-annual free on-line publication from the Encaustic Art Institute.
Each issue gets more exciting and rewarding as I search for featured artists, new techniques and artists who are exploring wax in so many varied ways. In this issue, I’m happy to be featuring on the cover, a well known Santa Fe encaustic artist, Ellen Koment.
Encaustic art is growing rapidly, and I am finding new and veteran wax artists that I haven’t known about; and getting in-depth information on those I already know. For example, in this issue you will find detailed information on Ann Huffman and Dorothy Mason – pioneers, as well as other stand-out artists who anchor the pursuit of encaustic expression. The reward certainly comes for me as I get to explore and view so much great art. With the Institute and now the Magazine, my knowledge and joy of wax is greatly enhanced. My hope is that you too will be excited about what is assembled here.
Encaustic Art Institute’s goal is to enhance, grow and make not only artists, but the public aware of this beautiful art form. In just two issues we have over 6,000 online subscribers. Share the excitement and keep passing the word. It is truly a fabulous movement. I am glad to have a part in it.
Douglas MehrensFounder and CEOThe Encaustic Art Institutenon-profit 501 C3
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August4-5, Encaustic Art InstituteThe Art of Papermaking/Encaustic on Paper. The ancient forms of Papermaking and Encaustic merge in this two day workshop taught by Jacqueline Mallegni and Sherry Ikeda. Workshop hours: Saturday and Sunday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
18 County Road 55A (General Goodwin Road) Cerrillos, NM 87010Fee: $350.00- includes materialshttp://www.eainm.com/events
6-9, Ellen KomentIntroduction to encaustic combined with More about Encaustic Painting,working up to 24”http://nmencausticworkshops.com
September15, Encaustic Art Institute4th Annual EAI Fundraising Gala and Auction. 5-8 PM. Deadline to receive submissions and label information: September 1, 2012.
18 County Road, 55A (18 General Goodwin Road) Cerrillos, New Mexico 87010http://www.eainm.com/events
22, Encaustic Art InstituteOPENING: National Encaustic Invitational: (juried). 1-6 PM. Juror: Ellen Koment, Mark DiPrima. Call for art goes out July 7, 2012. New Entry deadline: August 27, 2012. Selected pieces due at the Institute: September 8, 2012.
18 County Road, 55A (18 General Goodwin Road) Cerrillos, New Mexico 87010http://www.eainm.com/events
24-28, Ellen KomentBeyond Beginning, Going Large , working up to 36”http://nmencausticworkshops.com
January 201311-13, Ellen KomentIntroduction to Encaustic. Delray Beach, Floridahttp://nmencausticworkshops.com
2012
Attention all artist. Please submit your openings and workshop information to the Encaustic Art Institute for the Winter Magazine. Please send your submissions in on the month of October to Douglas Mehrens: [email protected]
Month0-Dates, Your NameA description of your show, time, location, opening.Website.
www.EAINM.com
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History of R&F Handmade PaintsRichard Frumess
DEVELOPING A PAINT LINE[The history of R&F can be traced back to the 1940s when Torch Art Supplies, a small, but very unique specialty art store in New York City, hired a Brooklyn chemical company to develop the first commercial encaustic paint.Until then, the only source for encaustic was whatever version artists made in their studios. These were hand mixed and often included solvents. The Torch paint was machine mixed and much safer because it was made without solvents. [2] Unfor-tunately, the encaustic market at that time was very small, and Torch eventually stopped making the paint in the mid-1960s.
My own first experience as a painter in encaustic was with the Torch paints in 1981. By then only about five of the original colors remained. Any other colors I had to make myself. Yet, I was far from the only one working in the medium at that time. Although encaustic was still pretty obscure to the general public, it was catching on with the art community. That was enough to make Torch’s consider making the paint again.
Torch’s original owners had died, and along with them the technical knowledge of how to manu-facture it, but a great interest in materials lured me into volunteer-ing to try. The new owners gave me bags of pigment and resin and wax to take to my studio with the objective of somehow turning those ingredients into paint. As you can imagine, my first attempts at simply stirring the pigment into the molten wax were not very promising.It took about a year to develop a system of high speed mixing with simple machinery. The outcome was a “commercial product,” but it was far cry from the carefully milled paint we produce today.
When Torch closed its doors in 1987, I started R&F in a tiny basement workroom down-stairs from my apartment. My close collaborator in this was Carl
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Torch Paints.
Encaustic Paints.
Pigment Sticks.
Original Pigment Stick.
Plansky, who had also worked at Torch and was now beginning his own company, Williamsburg Oil Paints. It was at Carl’s suggestion two years later that I developed a version of oil sticks, which I called Pigment Sticks®.
Because of its wax and oil composition, an oil stick was a natural step from encaustic. But where encaustic required tools and process, Pigment Sticks® were intended to have the immediacy of applying the paint directly from the hand. They were to be as far from a crayon and as close to the soft creamy lusciousness of an oil paint as possible, different from encaustic, but workable with it. Bill Creevy, in his 1994 The Oil Paint Book, called them “an oil painter’s dream come true.” [5]It wasn’t easy to achieve that goal, however. The formulations were very tricky. Each color required a different balance of oils, waxes, and pigment. Opaque colors had to be bright and solid, while translucent colors had to have just the right interplay of top tones and undertones in a spontaneous stroke.
The two wax-based paints did well enough to require a move upstate to a larger space in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Over the years the molds and mixers cobbled together from kitchen and plumbing appliances gave way to professional molds and machinery and traditional paint-making methods. The color line has increased from 42 to 99 colors. But the batches of paint have remained small and carefully controlled to ensure the highest purity and quality.
BUILDING A COMPANY (AND A MARKET)Creating a great paint is one thing; that’s the craft part. Getting that paint into the hands of artists is a totally other thing; that’s the business part. [8]The increased interest in encaustic in the early 1980s was promising, but it did not represent some sudden overwhelming demand. Oil sticks were fairly understandable, but encaustic was still considered an exotic medium. Most art stores were reluctant to make the investment to carry it. Galleries were skeptical. Schools barely recog-nized it. If it was taught in the schools at all, it was usually only in materials classes as part of a survey of historical mediums. Even artists working in the medium, myself included, had only a limited understanding of the materials, the techniques, or, most importantly, the tremendous possibilities of how this incredibly versatile paint could be used. The key to developing a market was education and promotion.
In 1995 R&F started holding the first ever regularly scheduled year-around encaustic workshops. Later that year we also set up the Gallery at R&F to promote the artists working in both encaustic and oil sticks through a rotating exhibition schedule. The workshops immediately filled with artists from all around the US. The initial classes were three days long and were based on the painting knowledge of the individual teachers. [9] As the
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Artist Working.
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R & F gallery.
For additional information please visit: http://www.rfpaints.com
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workshops progressed, they began to attract oil, acrylic, and water color painters, printmak-ers, papermakers, book artists, photographers, ceramicists, sculptors, metal workers, and jewelers, all of whom confirmed the fact that encaustic is the ultimate mixed media medium. These people brought with them a tremendous variety of tech-niques, which were absorbed into our teaching repertoire.
The R&F workshops, along with our online forum, became a clearinghouse for a large body of technical and material information. This accumulated knowledge was augmented by the collaborative printmaking, papermaking and photography workshops that we set up with Women’s Studio Workshop and the Center for Photography at Woodstock. We also brought in guest artists to teach special-ized techniques – Paula Roland and David Clark on monotype and printmaking, Lisa Pressman and Lorraine Glessner on mixed media, Cat Crotchett
on encaustic batik methods, R u s s e l l Thurston on breaking the rules, Cari Hernandez on 3-dimensional technique, Rick Purdy on inlay, etc.The popularity of the workshops s p u r r e d r e q u e s t s for regional w o r k s h o p s , which we set
up in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio area, Chicago, Atlanta, and New York City. While we continue to hold our comprehensive workshops, we have also devised special-ized workshops focusing on ground-breaking techniques.
In the meantime our gallery activities have been providing artists from all over the country and Canada with bi-monthly showcases for their work. [10] In 1997 we held our first biennial international juried encaustic exhibit. The 2011 biennial, juried by Joanne Mattera, is a soon-to-be-published exhibition in print, featuring 50 artists and including full size images, artist portfolios, and essays.
New products and partner-ships with other companies have expanded the resources that we are able to provide to artists. One of the more exciting ventures came soon after we developed our Encaustic Gesso when we joined forces with Ampersand Art Supply to produce Encausticbor-dTM – our Encaustic Gesso on their panel.
New products, more colors, and additional services are the goal we have set for ourselves. Where once we were a one person endeavor in a basement in Brooklyn, we are now an organi-zation of highly skilled paintmak-ers, teachers, curators, technical researchers, and artists. Our growth has included expansion into stores and catalogues throughout the US, Canada, and Australia and, very soon, Europe and Asia, making R&F paints available to artists around the world.
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Please $upport The Encaustic Art MagazineYour $10 donation to support the free online Encaustic Art Magazine will help us continue publishing this outstanding publication. You will receive
this 5” X 3” sticker in the mail in appreciation.
Send a $10 payment to:
ORThe Encaustic Art Institute18 General Goodwin RoadCerrillos, NM 87010-9779
2601 Cerrillos Rd.505.954.4179
Store Hours: Mon-Sat 9-6, Sun 12-5
800.331.6375
A L B U Q U E R Q U E • S A N T A F E
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R&F Encaustic Paints and Mediums
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Interested parties please send a e-mail [email protected]
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Do you ever stop to study the way a cluster of dried leaves hang from a tree branch? Watch reflections and ripples in water, mesmerized with the ever changing colors and patterns? Or perhaps, take in a film/play/art exhibit and become passionate about a color or concept brought forth in an inspiring way?
How about personal thoughts and feelings? Are they ever so big/present/consuming that expressing them isn’t an option?
Me too.
Wax TwistCari Hernandez
Detail, Joy, 24”x36”, Encaustic & Fiber, 2011.
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In taking in my environment and mixing in the visual feasts that surround me as well as the feelings they inspire, I can’t help incorporating them into my work.
While inspiration puts me in creative motion, innovation wraps itself into my work.
The two together help me explore my questioning of “how could I...?” as my work develops.
Given these influences, I am rather predisposed to the devel-opment of certain themes and form: the ethereal & the shadow, circles & folds- leading to a subtle exploration of duality.
The literal circular forms in my Oh series are echoed in my Floral Form series, as each floral form creates a circular pattern of its own. In my Color series, there is a subtle round, connecting shape developed deep within the layers of paint that can be seen within the color field. The sensi-bilities of a circle appeal to me- no beginning, no end- just finding oneself at a certain “point” of the arc. And in that way, I explore overlapping, large & small, pushed-in sides...small dots or a singular monolith. The circular form often converges with folds in my sculpted work.
Detail, Joy, 24”x36”, Encaustic & Fiber, 2011.
Jubilation, Solo Show, Market Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA., 2011.
Detail, Flow, installation, 10’x 12’, Encaustic & Fiber, 2011.
Joy, 24”x36”, Encaustic & Fiber, 2011.
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In a more literal sense, my altered books serve as curva-ceous sensual forms that are rolled like tight scrolls, with many of the forms giving way to a gentle unfurling, as well as a bit of folding. The folds in the pages echo many of my sculpted fiber forms, where I gather-pull-tuck the fiber into undulating ribbon-like shapes. The folds serve as a suggestion for the possibility of something hidden, tucked just out of view. It is within both the circles and folds that a soft edge resonates, a language that is shared by both.
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Lovely Bed, 18”x24”, Encaustic & Resin On Board 2009.
Detail, Sculpted Book Top, 9”x5”, Encaustic & Paper, 2012.
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The developing duality is more strongly realized in the installa-tion of my sculpted work, for it is here that shadows are created from the luminous white forms that float in a suspended state, casting shadows- distorted darkened areas intentionally created on the floors and walls that mimic the form itself. The meaning isn’t really about good & evil, it is about the dark and light that we all carry within, the darker areas where secrets live and the luminous purity that we often gravitate toward or present first.
Once the work has been created, it seems so obvious- the materials, scale, developed theme. But the journey of getting there is really a joyful and exhilarating part of the process for me. This is where the inventor gets to step-in; where I set up endless experiments with new materials that get tested and re-tested until I find consistency married with the unexpected. I love the science and technol-ogy that is woven into an artistic endeavor, a place to make a union between what is initially thought of as opposites and yet is so clearly bound together. This is my expression of exploration- taking in my surroundings and turning them back out.
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Oh...My, 12”x12x5”, Encaustic On Panel,2008.
Oh...Celebration, 18”x18”, Encaustic On Panel,2007.
Cari Hernandez is a full-time artist based in Northern California, her teaching of encaustic takes her across the Unites States as well as to international locations.
She has an instructional DVD; WAX Twist: advanced encaustic techniques.
For additional information please visit: www.carihernandez.comInstructional DVD: www.waxtwist.comEncaustic workshops: www.encausticworkshop.com
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A LINE IN TIMEANN HUFFMAN
The elusive fine wax line that went missing for encaustic art, in the dark ages before the internet, was found a quarter century ago when technology gave us temperature-controlled tools. It was a short step then to the temperature-controlled Enkaus-tikos Wax Pen with its C-5 Pen Point Attachment.
And there it was after all that time. A fine controlled wax line laid down with close to the ease of a dip pen in ink.
The advantage for the encaustic artist with the temperature-controlled Pen is that the heat needed to liquify waxes for painting can be limited to its attachment. The heated attach-ment will melt into a wax paint. The melting wax then fills the attachment. The attachment is then ready to add the melted wax that fills it to a concept. Brass bristle Hot Brushes, brass callig-raphy Pen Points, and Wax Writer attachments, modeled after the C-5 Pen Point, were developed to expand technique options.
Dorothy Masom’s article: ENCAUSTIC, the Ancient Art of Painting with Wax, in the June 1985 issue of Artist’s Magazine was the flashpoint that shot across the nation and the world to bring together artists inter-ested in encaustic. Soon, Encaustic Network Unlimited was organized. ENU sponsored encaustic conferences and exhibits. Artists attending ENU events were astonished to find that when they said “encaustic” or “wax” no oneSaid ‘WHAT’!? or ‘You paint with WHAT’!? Mirage (detail), 14”x11”, Encaustic Wax, 2001.
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2001 was the date that Sea Dragon was accepted for exhibit in Slovenia. The painting was one of the first and at a time when the C-5 and 1/4 inch pen points were the only attachments. Sea Dragon is an Enkaustikos Wax Pen painting. Wax paints were applied, blended, erased, and burned in with the Pen w/C-5 and 1/4” Pen Points. Painting was done from solid wax paints. The Pen with attachment worked directly into the waxes on the support to create the dragon on its burnished wax ground. However, when Sea Dragon was entered in ENU exhibits it caused a bit of controversy. Reviews ranged from, “That is not an encaustic”, to “Out, Damned Dragon”, to “I love this wax Dragon”. But often reviews were some version of, “How was this wax painting done”?
It took a book: Enkaustikos! Wax Art, to explain the Dragon, the Pen w/attachments, encaustic goods and studio practices at Mrs. Appletree’s Studio. In addition, 7 accomplished encaustic artists write about their art: Dorothy Masom, Fine Details for Encaustic Easel Painting. Veryl Culver Waldner, Wax Paste Mini-Painting Workshop. Rosemary Rupp, Tiny Tiles and Wax Frosting. Susan L. Walters, Encaustic Pointillism. Madge Simon, Encaustic Wax Paste. Shirley L. Charnell, Encaustic Monoprinting. Carol Bennet Heidenreich, Encaustic Painting on Marble Board.
Our premise was that wax is a medium that lends itself to any number of methods for encaustic art. By example, the wildly divergent encaustic tech-niques among us was a deliberate choice. So, there you have it, eight artists working in eight different approaches to encaustic as an art form.
All of them telling you exactly what to do...?
True, Enkaustikos! Wax Art, is a how-to-do-it book. The information can give an artist new to encaustic a place to begin as they develop their own methods with a wax medium for the art. For a working encaustic artist, the technique information can be adapted, combined, matched, or simply ignored as the spirit moves them.
Sea Dragon, 18”x24”, Encaustic Wax, 1886.
Ekaustikos! Wax Art ©, Ann Huffman, 1991. Revised Edition ©, Michael Lesczinski, 1996.
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In Mrs. Appletree’s Studio, the information was adapted for the Pen (or not) with much spirit moving going on as the paintings progressed.
For example, Boy From Oregon, is an encaustic wax paste painting and has nothing at all to do with the Pen. Veryl Culver Waldner and Madge Simon were my mentors. Boy was done with Veryl Culver Waldner’s wax paste formula and Madge Simon’s wax paste technique. That is, well burned-in, very thin layers of translucent wax paste paint applied with brushes to render the image on a marble wax plaster ground. A hot air heat gun was excellent for burning-in the delicate wax layers as they were applied to the painting..
Into the West is a Hot Brush painting adapted for the Pen from Dorothy Masom’s classic molten wax/hot palette/natural bristle brush technique with hot air gun burning-in. Therefore, waxes were semi-molten, the palette was warm, the bristles were brass, and the Pen burned-in the waxes as they were applied. In classic mode, the Pen w/Hot Brush worked directly from the semi-molten waxes in their pots or mixed wax paints on the surface of the warm palette. To complete the painting, details were done with the Pen w/C-5 Pen Point.
Boy From Oregon, 16”x18”, Encaustic Wax Paste, 1986.
Into the West, 5”x7”, Encaustic Wax, 2011.
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Aviva! Was inspired by Susan L. Walters ordered pointillism where the dot of color is the essential element. The painting was finished with layers of tiny colored wax dots blasted over wax paint layers and the sponta-neous wax line of a Wax Writer. Swapping ends with Hot Air Brush with its large dots, splots, and blobs blown off cold wax paint with hot air, the tiny dots were made with hot wax and cold air.
The Pen with a wrecked old Hot Brush melted the wax paint in its badly mangled brass bristles. A
standard air brush blew a stream of cold air through the tangle of crunched brass bristles and melted wax. The result was a somewhat astonishing mist of tiny colored wax dots that mostly ended up in layers over the surface to finish the painting. Each layer of tiny dots required very light hot air burning-in as the wax dots cooled a bit as they whistled through the air and onto the painting.
To paraphrase Shirley Charnell, “If it has wax paint on it, a print can be made from it”. Shirley’s Garden started as a print pulled from a failed painting and mounted on a support. Carol Bennet Heidenriech’s method for a support heated on a hot palette was used to warm the printed support. The Pen w/1/4” Hot Brush, working from solid waxes, established the concept as flowers. The Pen w/1/8” Pen Point worked into the waxes on the painting to finish the flower concept. The fine details in the painting were done after the meticulous C-5 Pen Point technique of Rosemary Rupp for tiny tiles and wax frosting.
Enkaustikos is a lovely and lost Greek word. With an exclamation point after it, Enkaustikos! sounds like a sneeze. Enkaustikos simply meant, “to process with heat”. In this age of the internet, where change is a given, it is heartening that artists still make a wax art processed with heat that is as old as time itself.
We simply call it “encaustic”.
AVIVA! (detail) 6”x8”, Encaustic Wax, 2011.
Shirley’s Garden 7”x5”, Encaustic Wax, 2010. Mrs. Appletree a.k.a. Ann [email protected] About her book, please visit:
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The Creative Life:Coney Island to Santa FeEllen Koment Edited by Karen Cantor
Color Falls II, 20”x20”, 2011, encaustic on panel.
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Chance brought encaustic to me. After being given a piece of beeswax, I began drawing lines between thin layers of clear wax. Then, I began to incorpo-rate photography. I loved that encaustic required me to move quickly, and to continuously be present to my work.
The colors, forms, and line I observe in the natural world never fail to amaze, delight and inspire me. Everything I do in encaustic is an outgrowth of what I did in oil and acrylic earlier in my career. From my first exhibited painting at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1967 thru today, I revel in exploring color, the power of line, and the impact of layering. Beginning with what I see, my intuition and knowledge filter the developing image so that what occurs on the paper, or panel, is a dialogue between me and the emerging painting.
Making art has been part of my life since childhood. When I was seven, my family moved from the cocoon of my extended family living a block from the Coney Island beach and boardwalk to Philadelphia. Suddenly dependent upon my own inner resources and imagi-nation, I thrived in the children’s art classes at the Tyler Art School in Philadelphia. Moving again, we went to Ohio. It was there, when I was eleven, that my mother died. Coming back to New York City, I went to the High School of Music and Art and then to the Cooper Union Art School. Thrilled with the access to great art, I went to the Museum of Modern Art almost weekly, getting to know the paintings very well.
The Females, 60”x40”, 1966, oil on canvas, collection of Jack Leissring.
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Upon graduating from Art School, I headed to the west coast for graduate school in painting at UC Berkeley. What a bright and beautiful new world! Within a few years I married, moved to the country, and unfor-tunately, my husband died. I began a new life. My husband passed away after a long illness. Seeking a new adventure, I spent a year traveling in Europe, Egypt and Israel. In the early 1980s I came to Taos, New Mexico as a resident at Wurlitzer Founda-tion. Although I quickly fell in love with New Mexico, it took me a dozen years to actually move here. Now I’ve been in Santa Fe for almost two decades, and it has been kind to me as an artist: from having galleries in which to exhibit my work, to interacting with a vibrant artist community. I’ve enjoyed teaching encaustic workshops (and am doubly pleased that they have been so popular), as well as teaching at UNM and SFCC.
The fluidity and speed of encaustic have allowed me to experiment in ways that might otherwise have been more difficult. Now, the process often seems simpler and clearer than what I experienced as a young artist. I become more intention-al in my process as the work revolves more and more around simplicity and beauty. This is where encaustic has again been a great gift. I am increas-ingly drawn to creating brilliant, luminous layers, enveloping in light the strata that reveal the painting’s history and my own past.
As I continue in the realm of lumi-nosity on paper and panels, my desire is to maintain the freshness and immediacy of a paper piece, even in a painting that I may work on for six months. With all that I have learned on my journey as an artist, I am confidently traveling the path of bringing my ideas to reality.
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Lirica, 48”x40”, 2008, encaustic on panel.
Upside Down #2, 24” x 18”, 2011, encaustic on panel, collection of Robert Pettit.
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New Reality #1, 30”x22”, 2012 wax/pigment/paper.
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ENCAUSTIC ART INSTITUTE, SANTA FEAUGUST 4 & 5
Saturday:Learn to make Japanese style paper, washi, from kozo, the bark of the paper mulberry. We will form sheets of beautiful handmade paper using a 5 x 7 inch mould and deckle. The paper made during this day-long workshop will be made specifically for use with encaustic. Participants will learn how to process kozo fiber from beating to sheet formation to drying. Foraged plant material from the EAI grounds may be added for color and texture. Visit my website: www.mallegni.com
Sunday:
This is a great workshop for those interested in learning the ancient art of encaustic (painting with wax). Learn how to
combine encaustic and paper through collage, direct painting and monoprint. We will also use heat guns, torches,
and tacking irons to fuse and build layers. Visit www.eainm.com for more information.
THE ART OF PAPERMAKINGJACQUELINE MALLEGNI
ENCAUSTIC ON PAPERSHERRY IKEDA
The workshop will take place on the beautiful grounds of the Encaustic Art Institute of Santa Fe. Pre-registration required. Contact Doug Mehrens, Director
505.424.6487 or e-mail: [email protected].
Location:18 County Road, 55A (18 General Goodwin Road) Cerrillos, New Mexico 87010
Workshop Hours: Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 4pm
Fee: $350 - includes materials
Please bring a bag lunch and comfortable clothing, shoes and hat. We will work both in/outdoors.
The ancient art forms of Papermaking and Encaustic merge in this two-day
workshop taught by Jacqueline Mallegni and Sherry Ikeda.
NATIONAL JURIED ENCAUSTIC INVITATIONALSeptember 22, 2012
OPENING: Encaustic Art Institute Gallery, Cerrillos, New Mexico. (1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.)
The Encaustic Art Institute of New Mexico is presenting The second National Juried Encaustic Exhibition. Artists working in encaustic are encouraged to apply.
Call for art goes out July 7, 2012New Entry deadline: August 27, 2012Selected pieces due at the Institute: September 8, 2012
JURORS: We are honored to have Ellen Koment and Mark Di Prima, Sales Director/Zane Bennett Gallery of Santa Fe, as jurors.
Ellen Koment has been painting for most of her lifetime, and working with, and exhibiting her encaustic paintings for over twenty years. In 2010 she moderated a panel at NYC’s “Artists Talk on Art” on the phenomena of Encaustic’s growth.
“Encaustic painting’s growth in popularity over the last twenty years has been nothing short of amazing, with new and inventive manifestations coming from all over the country. It has opened new creative doors for many artists.’”
Ellen Koment
Would you like to advertise here?You may make your ad a hyperlink [click ad]or include hyperlinks within it:Enacaustic Art Instituteor a E-mail
Interested parties please send a e-mail to [email protected]
Dor
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“Dean of American Encaustic Painters.” My first book, Encaustic Painting was written in 1981 while I was obtaining a Master of Fine Arts at Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, Pa. I received this degree while teaching at Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pa. My husband, Richard, taught Business Administration and I taught Drawing and Painting. We lived in Selinsgrove with our two children, Susan and Jeffrey and retired early after teaching there for 18 years.
Before that time, I won an art scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA and later ran my own art school in Sussex, N. J. Prior to attending the masters program at Bloomsburg University, I was painting in oils and print-making, however, I was never satisfied with the slow-drying oil paint medium. For my thesis, my art professor, Ken Wilson, suggested I try encaustics because I loved the tactile qualities of painting. His suggestion changed my life dramatically.
ENCAUSTIC PAINTING – Creating Luminous Works in WaxDOROTHY MASOM
Baltimore Inner Harbor, 30” x 36”, 2011. I always carry a camera when traveling and look for unusual subject matter. After taking many photos, I end up using a few bits and pieces of material from each one for the final painting.
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In my research I found only one book on the subject – Encaustic Materials and Methods, written by Frances Pratt and Becca Fizel. Through their sources of supply, I found the only art supply company still in existence that produced ready-made encaustic material “The Torch Company” in New York City. One of their best customers was Jasper Johns. I met Al and Jerry Torch who showed me beautiful, exquisite cakes of colors which they produced and sold. (Inci-dentally, Richard Frumess was then making the colors and he now runs R.& F. Company in Rochester, NY, still producing these marvelous encaustics). I just loved seeing these enticing colors and bought what I could, knowing I would not have the tedious job of making my own colors.
But, alas, the oldest art supply store in the United States was going out of business and they, along with Ilene Kischel who also worked for them, asked me if I wanted to buy what encaus-tics they had left. Of course, I agreed, especially since the price was reasonable and I lusted for the beautiful cakes I saw in their sample case. After a few weeks trucks appeared at my studio with huge shipments of encaustic cakes, enough to last a few lifetimes. I piled them all in my basement until I got the nerve to confess to my dear husband, Richard, what I had done. That decision to purchase these amazing, beautiful colors turned out to be the beginning of a new successful career for me of winning many prizes, doing demonstrations across the country, having huge exhibits, presenting workshops from coast to coast, and selling “Torch” encaustics. Nefertiti Image, 18” x 24”, 1985. I started my “Image Series” which began
with this painting of Nefertiti. One side of a board was painted with the image and then I used good printing paper to iron off a image to place on the opposite side which was glued down. Corrections were made on both sides until I was satisfied with the whole concept. This painting turned out to be my logo, paying homage to ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans, early artists who painted with wax over 2,000 years ago.
Crucifixion, 16.5” x 16.5”, 1984. This is one of my Stations of the Cross paintings where I literally poured white wax paint onto the board to create dramatic movement of the Christ figure. Every painting in this series had a gold cross in it.
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My career was off and running! In 1990, internationally known art critic, the late Clement Greenburg, awarded me “Best in Show” at The Pennsylvania Painters Show, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. I was asked, along with Ann Huffman, to co-host the Second International Encaustics Conven-tion at Susquehanna University. Ann had invented the encaustic pen and other tools. She later wrote her book Enkaustikos!, in which I wrote a guest article. Paintings by artists working in encaustics were exhibited at the convention and the convention was a huge success. It intro-duced many artists to the world of wax painting.
In 1984, my 15 Stations of the Cross paintings won an interna-tional award from the Interfaith Forum of Religious Art and Archi-tecture. These paintings traveled to many different churches, including St. Peter’s Church in New York, the Washington Theo-logical Union Church in Washing-ton, D.C. and finally made their home in the Church of the Good Shepherd in Tequesta, Florida. For the Selinsgrove Center, Selin-sgrove, Pa, I created seven foot high encaustic murals which caused me to use a ladder and a long extension cord. Another mural, 6’ by 6’, was done for Susquehanna University and appears in their library.
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Woodside Pond, 36” x 36”, 1990. Won best of the show. The pond painting was done while I lived in Sussex, NJ. The pond was an inspiration to me as I looked at it every day from my studio. I painted the 36” x 36” masonite board with dark orange and fixed it by fusing and then proceeded to add all the wonderful fall colors.
Reflections, 36” x 36”, 2010. This painting was a scene I noticed while living in my home in South Carolina. I was struck by the way the pots of flowers looked in the setting sun and the reflection that occurred on my glass coffee table. I am always amazed and awed by unusual things that happen to ordinary objects and try to capture the moment and feeling of awe in a painting.
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My article in Artist’s Magazine and cover story on Encaustic Painting in the June 1985 issue, made it possible for me to hear from so many people who were working in this unique medium. My mail box was flooded every day. When painting in encaus-tics, I endeavor to utilize many of the superior qualities of this medium. The luminosity of many of the colors lends an extra depth and feeling to my work which is considered to be impressionistic in nature. I work at an easel preferring to stand while painting. The painting, of course, is laid flat when fusing. Polishing the finished painting is fun and causes an amazing luster. Opalescent and irides-cent colors add subtle hues to my work.
The durability is superior to other media.. These and a variety of other advantages enable me to express my love of people, nature, and spiritual feelings. Encaustic paintings are very versatile, and afford the artist many modes of expression.
On this cover picture, I used copper and gold paint, having seen the use of them in the famous Fayum Portraits in the Metropolitan Museum in the Egyptian collection. This scene is of my favorite woodside pond.
I presently live in Baltimore, Md., and continue to paint with encaustic wax almost every day. Experimenting with this medium keeps me interested in all the different ways it can be used. It is truly an amazing medium and one that is growing in popularity for modern artists today.
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Portraits of StrangersMarybeth Rothman
For many years after graduating form Rhode Island School of Design, I worked as an illustrator of figu-rative work for editorial and advertising in New York. I left Madison Avenue when I could no longer resist the pull to make art that was my own and not tethered to the vision of an art director. Over the years I continued to focus on the figure, and investi-
Amarylis, 40”x40”, 2012.
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gate it’s relationship to my message and materials. As time went on the figure was not enough. I found it necessary to add layers to my work and started cutting and a pasting my oil paintings. At this point where I began to use collage, introducing family photographs from the 1940’s into my work, I discovered encaustic. I found I could compose
many layers with encaustic, imbedding materials into my work, creating a visual depth that is unique to this medium. The convergence of these ideas, encaustic, collage and photography was the defining moment that started me on a wonderful journey.
Amelia, 40”x40”, 2011.31
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With respect to a series of paintings, the images I choose are initially selected individually.Over time, the juxtaposition of the photos on my worktable, a swatch of paint, or a sketch initiates a conversation among these elements. A series emerges. I work on three or four paintings simul-taneously to insure a sense of visual and narrative continuity. In the series presented here, The Pilgrim Lake Library Committee, these portraits are tied together by an imagined geographic location and cultural bond.
While I have not touched oil paint in over ten years and have deeply immersed myself in the use of encaustic in my studio practice; I do not consider myself to be an “encaustic artist”. I believe this quite popular designation and view of oneself, can only limit my expression and interaction with practitio-ners of other art forms.
Before long, I felt the need to find an alternative for my family photos and searched for photographs from the same era. As I began to collect vintage photographs, I was struck by the finality of their discard. When the last person that remembers these castaways is deceased; all memory of them is gone. This notion of the untended became an obsession for me and over the years I have amassed a rather large collection of unwanted, orphaned photographs. This examination is motivated by a wish to reclaim these lost and forgotten souls by re-imagining their biographies. The integration of encaustic, photography and collage in my work occurred simultaneously as a dialogue developed among these elements. The mixed media approach to my work is both additive and subtractive; employing many subtle layers to form an amalgam of biographical texture. The facial expression and posture of the figure in my photo-graphs influence my palette, lines and marks that I use to create the narrative abstract drawings and paintings. As I continue to work, these disparate elements have begun to transcend the physical attributes of the materials and become one brush for me to paint portraits of strangers.
Lillian, 40”x40”, 2012.
Mattie, 40”x40”, 2012.
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I will continue to explore the portraits of the unknown and forgotten with abandoned photographs and broaden my investigation with contemporary strangers using my own photography. The basic human response to identify the other is endlessly intriguing to me. Marybeth Rothman is represented by Tria Gallery
in New York, NY, Mark Gallery in Englewood, NJ and Lanoue Fine Art in Boston MA.www.marybethrothman.com
Sylvie, 40”x40”, 2012.33
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I thought I had coined a new term. Having learned how to screen print from my daughter, Shira (BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago), I was delighted to be able to use my photograph-ic skills and images in another medium. Screen-printing provided some precision that I could not attain in painting. After learning about encaustic painting from one of Shira’s former high school teachers (Mary Van Gieson), I started to incorpo-rate photographic images into that medium also. I then wanted to be able to combine them all and try to print using wax. I found out that Roy Lichten-stein had done just that (Kushner, 2010). He used a technique called Wax Type developed at Graph-icStudio in Florida by Donald Saff. After develop-ing the technique, initially in hopes of collaborating with Jasper Johns, Saff asked Lichtenstein to try out the process. This resulted in a series of prints of the Brushstroke series. When I started looking into this process, I believed that I had coined the term encaustic serigraph, because I’d never seen it stated before in any of my references on encaus-tics (Stavitsky, 1999; Mattera, 2001; Womack, 2008; Seggebruch, 2009; Rankin, 2010) or serig-raphy (Auvil, 1965; Castleman, 1991; Henning, 2006), nor had I been able to find it on the Internet. The word encaustic (burning in) has been around for about 2500 years (Rice, in Stavitsky, 1999). A group of American artists working with the Federal Art Project (WPA) formed the National Serigraphic Society in the 1930’s. This group and Carl Zigrosser, curator at the Phildaelphia Museum of Art), devised the term serigraph in order to distinguish the fine art silk screen from commercial screen printing (silk screen process print) (Auvil, 1965 and Poulson). But still no encaustic serigraph was to be found. Eventually, I came across a master’s thesis written by Jeanne Wiger entitled “Descriptive Analysis of the Symbolism and Technique of Seven Prints in the Medium of Encaustic Serigraphy,” dated July, 1968 (Wiger, 1968). After much ado, I was able to obtain and read the thesis. Ms. Wiger’s descrip-tions are very precise and organized; she describes the technique as well as its pitfalls and ways to
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Homage to Jeanne Wiger and the Encaustic SerigraphNorman Soskel
References:Auvil, Kenneth W., Serigraphy. Silk Screen Techniques for the Artist, Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1965.
Castleman, Riva. Seven Master Printmakers. Innovations in the Eighties. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1991.Graphic Studio web site.<http://131.247.128.63/GS/artists/steir_pat_yau/steir.html>.
Henning, Roni, Water-based Screenprinting Today. Watson Guptill Publications, New York, 2006.Kushner, Marilyn Satin, Donald Saff. Art in Collaboration, DelMonico Books, New York, 2010.
Poulson, Pamela Mills. Serigraphy.<http://home.earthlink.net/~intothewoods/id28.html>.Rankin, Lissa. Encaustic Art. The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax. Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2010.
Rice, Danielle, Encaustic Painting Revivals: A History of Discord and Discovery, in Stavitsky, 1999, p. 5.Saff, Donald and Sacilotto, Deli. Printmaking. History and Process, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1978.
Seggebruch, Patricia. Encaustic Workshop. Artistic Techniques for Working with Wax. North Light Books, Cincinnati, 2009.Stavitsky, Gail, “Waxing Poetic. Encaustic Art in America,” Montclair Art Museum, May 23-August 15, 1999.
Reproduced by R&F Handmade Paints, 2007 with Permission from The Montclair Art Museum.Wiger, Jeanne M., Descriptive Analysis of the Symbolism and Technique of Seven Prints in the Medium of Encaustic
Serigraphy, July 1968, unpublished Master of Science Thesis, Moorhead State College.Womack, Linda and William. Embracing Encaustic. Learning to Paint with Beeswax. Hive Publishing, Portland, OR, 2008.
Figure 1, Seventh Word, Encaustic serigraph by Jeanne Wiger, (Wiger, 1968, p. 83), 24” x 19”.
get around the technical problems and as a result produced seven beautiful and expressive prints (Fig 1). Thus, Ms. Wiger developed the technique about 20 years before Saff or Lichtenstein, but is never credited with the discovery. Brice Marden printed with a mixture of wax in 1974, but was quick to admit that it was mostly oil with a little bit of wax and he didn’t burn it in, so it was not true encaustic. More recently, Pat Steir, using GraphicStudio’s Waxtype, created a lithograph overlaid with waxtype called “Sky’s Four Sides” in 2000 (Graphic Studio, 2000). Although I wish I had coined the term myself, I want to give Jeanne Wiger credit for this development. Lastly, I’ve been in contact with Ms. Wiger and she’s been very appreciative of my interest. I have included here a few of my recent attempts at this endeavor (Fig. 2 and 3); however, this is a process in development, as there are many technical diffi-culties.
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Figure 3, Comes the Goat, Encaustic Serigraph by Norman Soskel,12” x 16”.
Norman Soskel, [email protected]
Some of his work is displayed at www.memphisthings.com.
Figure 2, Dino’s, 8” x 10.5”Encaustic Serigraph by Norman Soskel
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Creating and Embracing New OpportunitiesLinda Womack
As the huge truck pulled up in front of my house I got a chill up my spine. I knew the books would arrive sometime that week but no one seemed to want to give me a firm delivery date. I watched as the driver struggled to maneuver the bulky pallet through my garden gate and I worried that it wouldn’t fit. As he drove away, leaving me with box after box of my new encaustic book I thought, not for the first time, “What have I done?”
It all started about 5 years ago when one of my students mentioned that she couldn’t find an encaustic book with step-by-step instructions for beginners. That got me thinking that it wouldn’t be too hard to put one together, especially with the new print-on-demand services that had recently become available for self-publishing books online. Using this service they would be printed as they were purchased, so I would never need to print a large number of books. By that evening I had decided which service to use, downloaded the software and purchased the Internet domain name EmbracingEncaustic.com.
Using my existing class handouts as a basis for the book, I started planning what photographs I would need to take and what other information might be missing. Before long I had a good idea of what techniques to include and how I could best illustrate them for my readers. I added my content to one of the software templates, uploaded the file, and the first edition of Embracing Encaustic: Learning to Paint with Beeswax was ready for purchase! I ordered copies right away and was thrilled to see my little books in the mail just a few days later.
I was stunned by how well the book sold over the next few months, and I quickly became convinced that there was a much bigger need for this than I originally thought. I decided it was time to find a traditional printer. Learning New SkillsI wanted to produce the next run of books at a lower per-book cost with higher quality materials, and in a form that could be sold in bookstores across the country. That involved immersing myself in the world of bindings, special paper coatings, ISBN numbers, photographic resolutions and ink options. After a lot of research, I selected a Canadian printing firm that had been recommended by another author.
The second edition of Embracing Encaustic was larger, with twice as many pages and a load of new information. The best addition was a gallery section featuring the work of twenty-five painters
Linda’s husband Bill helps unwrap the first 1,500 copies of Embracing Encaustic.
Embracing Encaustic: Learning to Paint with Beeswax, by Linda and William Womack. Second Edition. Hive Publishing.
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who described in detail how they created each piece. By inviting these artists to publish their workI started friendships that lead to more opportunitiesfor all of us and gained a prominent group ofartists with a vested interest in promoting my book.Initially, the printer advised me that niche booksniche books like this rarely sell more than a couplethousand copies. He clearly underestimated artists’hunger for learning encaustic! As of now, we’vereprinted 3 times and sold around 6,000 copies.
Before you see dollar signs and start looking for a printer, be aware that self-publishing is an incred-ible amount of hard work. Getting that pallet into my basement was just the beginning. From then the effort turned to marketing, publicity, invoicing, packing and shipping. While I didn’t get rich from this project, I did gain a solid income base to allow me to create my art without needing to worry about the dreaded “day job”. I finally was able to focus on my painting practice, discovering my voice and developing a bold visual style in part because of inspiration from the artists in my own book.
Becoming More, 24” x 36”, encaustic, oil, and watercolor on limestone clay, 2012.
Linda’s paintings are featured in Embracing Encaustic and also serve as inspiration for students in her studio.
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Embracing New OpportunitiesBecause of the popularity of Embracing Encaustic, I’ve also enjoyed many opportunities that arose at least partially from the credibility that comes with being a published author. I have traveled through-out the United States and Canada signing books, giving lectures and demonstrating how to get started in encaustic painting. Since the initial publi-cation, I’ve been invited to give lectures and teach workshops at conferences, museums and schools from Hawaii to Florida.
In 2010, I was asked to curate a show of encaustic work for a major art festival in Oregon. The result was Luminous Layers: Exploring Contemporary Encaustic, a wide-ranging exhibit demonstrating the variety of ways in which contemporary artists
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Passion Spares Nothing, 11” x 14”, encaustic and oil on panel, 2012.
Finalizing a sale with a collector at a fund raiser for a local children’s charity.
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use wax in their art. It was the most comprehen-sive exhibit of encaustic paintings and sculpture assembled in the Pacific Northwest, with 167 works from 65 regional, national, and international artists.
Last year I was invited to participate in a panel called Mastering Media, at the International Encaustic Conference, founded by Joanne Mattera, author of The Art of Encaustic Painting. Joanne encouraged me to write Embracing Encaustic way back when, so there was a certain symmetry in being invited to speak at her conference about that very project.
Online Encaustic ClassesMy success with Embracing Encaustic has led meto try other forms of teaching. Although I’ve taughtin my studio and around the country for years, availability has always been limited to a handful of students per class. Many artists had expressed interest in my workshops but they lived too far away to join me. To solve both of these problems I decided to offer online video classes through a new site, WomackWorkshops.com. Students have access to all the videos, class notes and community chat for six full months and I answer questions and give personal critiques online. The technology wasn’t good enough to do anything like this when I first published Embracing Encaustic, but I’m always on the lookout for new opportunities.
What’s NextEmbracing Encaustic is now 4 years old and still selling well so it’s time for an update. I’ve decided that the third edition of the book will be published electronically as an eBook, eliminating the need for packing and shipping and allowing artists anywhere in the world to receive it instantly. I plan to add new techniques and refresh the imagery of some of the current guest artists while adding a few new favorites. Look for the latest edition of Embracing Encaustic this summer—right after I figure out how to make an eBook.
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Womack Workshops online encaustic classes are like a movie version of Embracing Encaustic.
Linda Womack in her studio.
For additional information about Linda Womack:
www.lindawomack.comWomackWorkshops.com
www.embracingencaustic.comembracingencaustic.wordpress.com
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So far I’ve had two books on encaustic published. The first in 2010, is a self-published “gallery between pages,” and the second, just out in April 2012, a how-to with publisher Interweave.
Encaustic With a Textile Sensi-bility came about because I had received lots of encour-agement to curate shows. In addition, many friends and colleagues commented that my writing was good, and that I should write more. That seems funny, since I have no formal education or training in writing! I’ve been journaling (then cutting or shredding my writing) using The Artist’s Way method for many years, and how I write is pretty much stream-of-conscious-ness. I usually send my writing to my editor-in-chief, Kim, who makes me sound a lot smarter than I really am. A good editor is essential.
My reluctance to curate was due to witness-ing two of my friends curating a show at a local gallery in Santa Cruz County. They were not having such a good time of it. In fact, they were fighting
and I think, to this day, they no longer speak to each another! I watched drama, anger and the herding of cats. I thought that this was something I never wanted to do! Still, the encour-agement to curate kept coming. Then I had a notion to curate a show in book form. It seemed easier, the path of least resis-tance. It turned out to involve a fair amount of herding cats in its own way, getting the artists to send their submissions to me.
The actual process was much more fun. I had already selected a number of the artists. I looked at a lot of work online, met people at conferences and
asked colleagues for suggestions to make the group more inclusive.
In the end, I chose the work I liked best to be repre-sented in the book. The design process was also educational. I’d worked with the award-winning Art Director, Carol
Encaustic With A Textile Sensibility
Here’s what happens to most of my morning pages! Photo by Shmuel Thaler.
TitleDaniella Woolf
Here is a work from that show my friends curated, entitled Beauty at My Feet, 24” x 48” Encaustic and sewn Eucalyptus Leaves. Photo by RR Jones.
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Charney, of Charney Design for many years on my web and print design, developing, as she would say “my brand”. We sat down at her computer and reviewed the work together. It was uncanny how aesthetically attuned we were. We ooo’d and ahhh’d and thumbs-up’d the work, or scrunched up our faces and simultaneously bid it “auf wieder-sehen”. I implicitly trust Carol’s design sense. She educated me on page layout and internal design of the structure, and how each page would grid out. She worked on a beautiful cover design. I knew I was in good hands. Sometimes I can’t articulate what I want, but I definitely know it when I see it. Carol intuits my tastes, and steers me in the right direction. Instead of reinventing the wheel on publishing, I asked for help from Linda Womack. She was generous and gracious with her sources for a legal agreement for artists, and suggested printers for quotes. She had already done so much research, and was willing to share it with me. Early on, she
mentioned how Amazon has helped with the sale of all of our books. If you buy one encaustic book, they send you recommendations for others.
I decided it was better to publish locally, or as local as prudent. We printed in San Francisco, where Carol would easily get to a press check. How many should we print - one or two thousand? The more we print, the lower the cost. Then there was the question of storage. I already had a storage unit for my “material” habit, which allowed me to keep my studio space small. I decided to print 2000 books. They were packaged 27 to a box, weighing about 35 pounds per box. I had 74 boxes of books delivered to my storage garage on two palettes. Seeing that many boxes was daunting, and made me wonder “what was I thinking?”
Next I had to consider distribution. I sell the books on my website through Paypal, and on Amazon. I have sold them at conferences, where I teach, through paint companies, art stores, and merchants selling fiber and textile supplies. It was important to apply ahead for an ISBN number for my book, so that Amazon was willing to stock it. The process was not too difficult, and was well-explained on-line.
Charney’s page layout for Artist Jody Alexander.
Charney’s layout for the Table of Contents and on the left is a detail of The Tape Modern, a sewn and encaustic installation.
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I found it quite humorous that the book eventually became an actual exhibition, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid! Jeff Juhlin, one of the artists in the book, took a PDF of the artwork to the curator at the Kimball Art Center, in Park City, who loved it and booked it for June-July of 2011. Kimball got to be the cat-herders! They mounted a beautiful exhi-bition, and lit it wonderfully as well. It was a great place for sales of the book. Instant Catalog! In 2010, I was contacted by Interweave Press to write a mixed-media encaustic book with an accompa-nying DVD. This book, The Encaustic Studio, just came out in April. Making it was a totally different experience. I not only had an art director, but also a team of Interweave professionals. I was blessed with a wonderful editor, Elaine Lipson who guided me though the process, and became my dear friend. Interweave had a team of 8 people working on this book, including Liz Quan, a fantastic artist in her own right, and a wonderful Art Director. Initially Elaine asked me to just write, write, write, and send everything to her by a certain deadline. In short order, she sent me back my words in book form, with chapters listed. It astonished me. There were deadlines. There were edits of every sort. I used the paints from every one of our fine encaustic paint makers. For shooting photos of the tools and materials section, Liz Quan had me pour out an enormous slab of wax onto which she could place the specific categories of items. I was amazed at her precision and fine aesthetic sensibility. Interweave had an in-house person do the technical edits. I was also fortunate to have Richard Frumess of R & F Paints check my manuscript for technical accuracy. He made some corrections, and taught me some new information in the process. I wanted to enlist others, but time ran out.
To my amazement, we shot a DVD in one day (my others have taken 4) at the studio of Joe (the guy with the most toys) Coca, a terrific photographer.
Giving a gallery talk for the exhibition, Encaustic With a Textile Sensibility, at the Kimball, in 2011.
New Book Cover-The Encaustic Studio. Photos © 2012, Interweave Press LLC. Published in The Encaustic Studio by Daniella Woolf. Photography by Joe Coca. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted.
Art Director, Liz Quan’s layout on a slab of encaustic medium! Photos copyright 2012, Interweave Press LLC. Published in The Encaustic Studio by Daniella Woolf. Photography by Joe Coca. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted.
Shooting the DVD in Joe Coca’s Studio-in one day! Photos copyright 2012, Interweave Press LLC. Published in The Encaustic Studio by Daniella Woolf. Photography by Joe Coca. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted.
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I spent 3 more days in Joe’s studio doing demos while he shot the step-outs.
Unlike Encaustic With a Textile Sensibility, which features the work of 23 artists, all the artwork in The Encaustic Studio is mine. The entire process took one year, and consumed me in a new and different way. I was lucky to have this wonderful team of professionals to do all the things they do best. So many people have contributed their skills and talent to this beautiful book, which Interweave is distributing, marketing and selling. How did they do it-the cover even feels waxy! What’s on my horizon now? Lots more teaching at Wax Works West, for R and F, and returning to teach in Australia and Europe. A new eBook about boats, and a memoir entitled Skinny Legs!
Some of Joe Coca’s beautiful Step-Out Photos, showing the hot wax stylus pen. Photos © 2012, Interweave Press LLC. Published in The Encaustic Studio by Daniella Woolf. Photography by Joe Coca. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted.
Photo of copper leaf transfer on encaustic surface by Joe CocaPhotos © 2012, Interweave Press LLC. Published in The Encaustic Studio by Daniella Woolf. Photography by Joe Coca. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted.
Daniella Woolf in her studio with origami encaustic boats. Photo by Rob Renfrow.
Daniella Woolf holds an M.A. in Textile Structures from UCLA. Over her career she has worked in a variety of media, including fiber, paper, collage, jewelry and installation. She is a principal at Wax Works West, a school for the encaustic arts, and purveyor of fine encaustic supplies. She teaches in the West for R and F Paints, and globally for Wax Works West. She is a 2007 recipient of the Gail Rich Award for Excellence in the Arts in Santa Cruz, and the 2008 Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship. She is active in the Surface Design Association, Inter-national Encaustic Artists, and the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists. Her work is exhibited nationally and internationally.
Daniella Woolf, blogs at Encausticopolis under the name Dotty Stripes.
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IEA EncaustiCon 2012: Are you registered for encaustiCon this year? If so, you are in for a treat. If you’ve never been to San Antonio before, the city has an abundance of sights and sounds. It’s full of amazing art. Watch the video featuring San Antonio art on the encausticon.com website and it will make your decision to come and visit even more enticing. We’ve nearly reached our first initial goal of attendees, and multiple workshops are full. Even a couple of the post-conference workshops are nearing their capacity. We only have two more spaces for the Art Tour San Antonio and The La Vendeene award finalists have been announced. You can find their names on the left hand side of the front page of encaustiCon.com The steering team is busy filling the goodie bags, and signing contracts with vendors. Enkaustikos (please link to ‘ http://www.encausticpaints.com/’ ) and Wax Works West (please link to ‘http://www.waxworkswest.com/ ‘ ) along with other vendors will be at encausticon so you can either fill your travel bags with new encaustic supplies, or we will have shipping options available for you to enjoy when you get home. It’s going to a fantastic weekend full of encaustic fun!
Events
The steering team welcomes any and all help, so please, please contact us if you have any suggestions, and especially items for our goodie bags; We’re hoping that each of the IEA chapters send us something from their local members to share amongst encaustiCon™ attendees. Go to encaustiCon.com website and ‘contact us’ to be connected. For all those attending and interested in learning more, The encaustiCon™ 2012 from San Antonio, Tx Steering Team are active IEA Facebook members. Please go to the IEA Facebook Members Page to join the conversation.
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Events
International Juried Exhibition: Only a few more weeks before the deadline to enter the IEA EncaustiCon 2012 International Juried Exhibition! Deadline is June 22. We expect cash prizes of $2,000, and top 3 places will be featured in Poets and Artists magazine. IEA members receive a discount of $10 for their 3 entries. Go to the member section of the IEA website to receive your discount code. The exhibition will be held at the beautiful Gallery Nord in San Antonio, TX, with an opening reception scheduled for Sept 7. Exhibition remains open until Set 29, and all accepted works will be for sale. For prospectus and entry information, you may go to www.encausticon.com or directly to www.callforentry.org Enter today!
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BeesQuotes are from the book Robbing the Bees by Holley Bishop
“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,One clover, and a bee, and revery.” Emily Dickinson
“Nobody disputes the role of dogs as man’s best friend, but a convincing argument can also be made for the honey bee.” Martin Elkort, The Secret Life of Food
“The only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey…and the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it” A.A.Milne, Winneie-the-Pooh
He must be a dull man who can examine the exquisite structure of a comb, so beautifully adapted to its end, without enthusiastic admiration.” Charles Darwin
““Nothing but honey is sweeter than money.” Benjamin Franklin
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Muhammad Ali