ONLINE EXHIBITION

Natura Viva

Biology is fractal.. Leaf patterning and veining, tree formation, hives and shells all have a mathematical description to their form. It can be enormously intriguing to mimic, recreate, and in a sense, relive the form through line and color in a fractal way, using the organic growth of a wavering line and meandering color.

Here are 39 artists who use botanical or biological content in their work. What you will find amazing and intriguing is the breadth of treatment of the content in these works. They run the gamut from lush, chaotic overabundance to spare minimal elegance and in every imaginable medium and material. You'll see....we'll begin my my own "kitchen sink" approach:

Debra Claffey, "Cereus-ly", Encaustic, pigment stick, graphite, oil on panel, 2012, 12" x 12"

 

Cheryl McClure, "Johnson Creek Summer 1", encaustic on wood panel, 2011, 10" x 10" x 2"

Tracey Adams, "Collage-13", intaglio, encaustic, monotype, encaustic, 2011, 13" x 18"

Nancy Azara, "White and Pink Leaf", Paint and encaustic on canvas, 2012, 5" x 4" x .5"

Joan Stuart Ross, "Poplars II", encaustic and collage on panel, 2012, 10" x 8"

Soosen Dunholter, "Float", Collagraphic Monoprint, 2008, 26" x 21"

Deborah Martin, "Garden Scroll", encaustic, carbon, original drawing transfers on kozo, 2011, 76" x 11"

Willa Vennema, "Eucalyptus Leaves 2", Eucalyptus Leaves, Ribbon, Stick, on Panel, 2012, 8" x 8"

Ahavani Mullen, "Winter", Encaustic and mica on paper, 2011, 3" x 2"

Laura Petrovich-Cheney, "Burren", Ink, charcoal, soot on paper, 2012, 63” x 48”

Jeanne Borofsky, "Mirkwood #1", digital drawing, 2002, size varies

Peggy Epner, "Historicity", encaustic on panel, 2010, 18" x 18"

Cyndie Katz, "100 Chile Labyrinth", acrylic, 2012, 24" x 24", 2012

Dawna Bemis, "Lotus Blossom", Encaustic, Pigment, Paper, Transistors and Pigment Stick on Steel, 2012, 12" x 12"

Kay Hartung, "Cell17", encaustic & mixed media, 2012, 6" x 6"

Hazel Bartram-Birchenough, “Body Series: Deep Tissue with Pathological Process”,  Encaustic and mixed media on wooden panel, 6”x 8”

Kathleen Scout Austin, "Without Bees", encaustic with photo collage and oil stick, 2012, 10" x 10"

Marsha Hewitt, "Orchid Bough", Encaustic and mixed media, 2012, 8.5" x 14"

Susanne K. Arnold, "Osmia. avosetta Brood Chamber- Golden", Encaustic, botanicals, papier mache , 2011, 5.5" x 3" x 3"

Kathy Tangney, "Collaboration", mixed media, 20" x 16"

Marilyn Banner, "Buds", encaustic and inkjet photo on wood, 2008, 8" x 8”

Linda Widstrand, "Red_Flowers", encaustic, 2012, 8" x 10"

Elsa Voelcker, "Luscious Amaryllis",  Digital print, 12" x 8"

Carol Brody, "August Bouquet",  Encaustic on panel, 2010, 12” x 16”

Kathy Blankley Roman, "Thinking of Spring", mixed media with encaustic on tile, 2012, 8" x 8"

Su Sheedy, "Bog Hydrangea", encaustic on plywood, 2011, 30" x 30" x 2"

Pamela DeJong, "Spring Snow", Encaustic on cradled birch, 2012, 14" x 14"

Christine Aaron, "Sulphur Branch II", Mixed Media (printmaking, encaustic) on patinated copper, 2010, 24" x 18"

Judy Klich, "Whole Nine Yards”, Encaustic on panel, 36” x 22” x 2”

Pamela Wallace, "To the Light",  encaustic/pigment stick on panel, 2009,  24" x 24" x 2"

Elena De La Ville, "Bee Habitat", Fabric, wax, rust, 2011, 48" x 30"

 

Jane Longman, "Connections IX", encaustic on panel, image transfer/plexi, dried organics, 2012, 16" x 8"

Jane Allen Nodine, "Terra Ignota 02", encaustic wax, pigment, resin, iron oxidation, tea stain on muslin on panel, 2012, 20" x 24"

Eileen Goldenberg, "Array 66", encaustic, 2011, 12" x 12"

Fanne Fernow, "Prayers for the Earth: Rites of Spring: 2011", encaustic on panel, diptych, 12" x 24", 2011

 

Helen Dannelly, "Earth Pod", Cast encaustic, oil, raffia, 2012, 9” x 6” x 9”

Michele Thrane, "Serengeti Colors", Encaustic Monotypes, Photographs, Staples, Paper, 26” diameter

Elizabeth DAmico, "Summertime", Encaustic and found images on board, 2007, 6" x 6"

Pat Spainhour, "Botanical Two", encaustic collage, 2011, 18” x 18”

Marcia Santore, "Yellow Trunk", acrylic paint and rice paper on canvas, 2007, 15" x 30"

A Gallery, Special Exhibition

A Gallery, on Commercial Street in Provincetown, will hold a special exhibition from June 1 to 3, 2012 to  celebrate the Sixth International Encaustic Conference (see previous post). Eight artists who use wax will be exhibiting work selected by gallery owner Marian Peck.  She was  "looking for a reductive sensibility, simplified images, and a cool palette." I sent in some images of recent work and she selected "Smoke and Ice", that had been completed in 2011.

"Smoke and Ice", Encaustic, graphite, collaged drawings, dried leaves on panel, 24" x 24" 2011

"Smoke and Ice"  is made with oil, encaustic, pigment stick, graphite, and dried leaves on collaged drawings which have been mounted to a 24" square panel. Almost monochromatic, patches of blacks, greens and deep reds peek through from the underlayers. The movement of the wax, melted over drawn line and dried leaves, brings to mind smoky tendrils and the icy surface of a frozen pond.

A Gallery
192 Commercial Street
Provincetown, MA
"Wax"
June 1 - 3, 2012
www.agalleryart.com

Come to Provincetown in June!

Just heard today that two recent paintings have been juried into a show this June called Confluence: The Embrace of Water and Light at the Kobalt Gallery on Commercial Street in Provincetown.

The theme the show is built around is this:
"For our annual juried show we invite registered conferees [of the Sixth International Encaustic Conference, more below] to consider the watery vastness into which Provincetown is set: the calm Massachusetts Bay in the crook of the arm of the Cape, and the roiling Atlantic that spirals out beyond it. For a hundred years artists have come to Provincetown to paint the ocean that enfolds it, at high tide and low, and to capture the exquisite light that hovers just below the horizon, illuminates the shore and bathes the dunes.
We challenge you to draw inspiration from this embrace of water and light—realistically, abstractly or somewhere in between. The luminosity and fluidity of encaustic would seem especially suited to the challenge.
If you would prefer, you may draw your inspiration from a different ocean with its own special light, or from the sense of “ocean” or from a sense memory of water itself: traveling through it or over it, perhaps even flying above it." --Francine D'Olimpio, owner Kobalt Gallery

Tidal Pool I, encaustic on panel, 12" x 12", 2012

Tidal Pool II, encaustic on panel, 12" x 12", 2012

These two pieces are about the view of the ocean around your toes as the tide moves in and out. I'm intrigued with the amount of life that thrives in these places. coping with heat and cold, wet and dry, hanging on for dear life as the water rushes out. The forms the seaweed makes is just so gorgeous.  I've been fortunate to make many visits to the oceans at the Cape, but it's the rocky edge of the world at Two Lights in Maine that sparked these.

The exhibit is concurrent with The Sixth Encaustic Conference, organized by the indefatigable Joanne Mattera together with Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill director Cherie Mittenthal. This will be the second year the Conference is in Provincetown; it's a 3 day watch, look, learn, talk, and network fest for artists who use wax in their work, with days and days of pre- and post-conference workshop intensives.

Much of Provincetown takes part as well. Fifteen local galleries are exhibiting the work of more than 110 artists working with wax. If you're curious about wax and encaustic, this is the time and place to come and find out more.

Confluence: The Embrace of Water and Light
June 1 - 12, 2012
Juror: Francine D’Olimpio
Kobalt Gallery, Provincetown
Opening reception June 1 from 7-9pm.

Whimsy in Wax, A Look at the Bright Side

18 artist members of New England Wax explored their whimsy in this exhibit at the Essex Art Center in Lawrence, Mass.

Though the area was coping with the snow from a late winter storm, the opening reception, on Friday, March 2, was lively and convivial.  Leslie Costello, the Essex Art Center Director, and Charyl Weissbach, NE Wax's coordinator for this event, assembled a varied and delightful array of whimsical works.. All incorporated wax as a material, from drawings on wax on paper to 3D creations of inventive characters.

The exhibit will run through April 13, 2012.The gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10am - 6pm.

Exhibitors include:

Kathleen Austin Dawna Bemis Jeanne Borofsky Pamala Crabb Burnham Debra Claffey Pamela DeJong

Ken Eason Helene Farrar Milisa Galazzi Pat Gerkin Jeanne Griffin Sue Katz

MaryAnne O’Brien Beverly Rippel Donna Hamil Talman Julie Vohs Leila Weinstein Charyl Weissbach

Here are my two contributions:

"Traveling", 12"x 12", encuastic and mixed media, 2011

"Zips", 12" x 12", Encaustic and mixed media, 2011

I Learn a Thing or Two in a Pigment Stick Marathon

The three-day workshop with Lisa Pressman at R&F Paints in Kingston, NY involved a 3 a.m. wake-up, packing about half of my studio into my van, and a four-hour drive. But from then on, nothing but positive. Lisa Pressman, a facebook friend that I hadn't yet met in person, is a phenom in the classroom. Knowledgeable, concise, able to tailor her comments to the individual, and funny! We got The World according to Lisa Pressman Capsule as a bonus.

I've used R&F pigment sticks in my work, mostly as a glaze or incised wax. I generally put them down or a layer of wax medium and wipe it off again. I wanted to learn everything I could about using them on their own.

We worked on small bits of paper to start learning about how the colors went down, how to wipe them off, layer them, or impress textures into them. We did a huge blind swap, and worked on our neighbors' pieces. I used unaccustomed colors and marks, abandoning all expectations and just played.  Then we all looked at the results--immense changes-- and returned the pieces to their owners. The next task was to make it our own again. This was an invaluable reminder that we each have a personal and unique iconography, independent of style or genre.

My first larger piece was on 300lb. watercolor paper. Here's a shot of the final version. It was a bit of a revelation to me, even after all the years, I've been painting, that obliterating your carefully assembled images could be rewarding, giving the picture depth and resonance with a sensation of accumulated memories.

As a lark, we did an "Exquisite Corpse", which is a collaborative piece in which a cover is placed over all but a small portion of the piece that the next artist will respond to and continue. No one sees the whole work until it is complete. I could only see about four inches of the work-in-progress when I added my section. We worked horizontally, but I'm going to post it here as a vertical so you can see the whole piece.

 

Learned a lot, had some great meals with new friends, made some interesting new pieces (which I didn't photograph), and will do it again soon!

Museum School Art Sale - Last chance today!

December 8–11, 2011
10 am–8 pm daily

Specials!
Sunday, last chance brunch 10 am–12pm: First 50 buyers receive one free pass to "Degas and the Nude" at the MFA.


I have one 24' x x24' piece in this show and several works in the shrink-wrap bins. Stop by and take a look.

"Pipe Dreams 3", Encaustic, graphite, conte on canvas on panel, 24" x 24"

 

 

 

This piece is in its third incarnation (its best yet). If a piece stays inthe studio where I can see it, it often runs the risk of being revised!

"Secretive Sounds IV", Oil over monotype, 20" x 20"

"Secretive Sounds III", Oil over monotype, 20" x 20"

"Mandolin View", Oil, charcoal, 20" x 20"

"Caning Form", Oil on Rives BFK paper, 20" x 20"

 These four are part of a still-life series in which I was using musical instruments, vases, mugs, and foliage from the plants in my studio to make almost abstracted compositions.

Wax-Inc.

Wax-Inc. 

National Exhibition juried by Brian T. Allen, Director, Addison Gallery of Art
Nov 4–Dec 21, 2011 

Opening Reception: November 4, 6–8 pm

SOUTH SHORE ART CENTER
119 Ripley Road
Cohasset, MA 02025

781 383 2787

"Leaving:, Encaustic, oil, pigment stick on canvas on panel, 20" x 20"

NH Institute of Art's Biennial 2011

I've had two paintings from last winter accepted into The New Hampshire Institute of Art's Biennial 2011, a regional juried exhibition for New England artists. The exhibit will be open from Friday, Nov. 4 through Monday, Dec. 5.

I will be at the Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 5 – 7 pm, in the Institute's French Building Gallery, 148 Concord Street, Manchester, NH. Stop by and say hello.

This exhibition includes 56 works of painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, and illustration by nearly 40 regional artists and will be on display in both the French Building Gallery and Amherst Gallery.

Biennial 2011 is juried this year by Anthony Apesos, an American painter and professor of Fine Arts at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University where he founded and served as the first director of the low-residence Masters in Fine Art program there.

"Arterial", encaustic, pigment stick, collaged monotype and dried leaves on panel, 24" x 24"

"Interstice", encaustic, graphite, pigment stick, and ink on venetian plaster on panel, 24" x 24"

You're Invited!

NH Open Doors
November 5 - 6, 2011
10 am - 4 pm
www.NHopendoors.com for details and directions. Search for me in Crafts - Fine art.

I've cleaned up the studio in anticipation of a weekend open studio. I'll have paintings in oil, encaustic, and mixed media. Lots to see and talk about. Stop by!

Supported in part by a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts!

I was able to attend the Fifth International Encaustic Conference this June in Provincetown, Mass. with a Artists Entrepreneurial Grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. This professional development opportunity helped me with marketing and networking as well as learning new developments in working with encaustic. It would not have been possible to attend without this gift, so I just want to say Thank You! and let it be known how much it is appreciated. It made a difference!  Support your State Council on the Arts!

Keynote speaker Jackie Battenfield, photo by Joanne Mattera

"Mastering Media" panel, photo by Joanne Mattera