encaustiZINE Spring 2018

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FLUX: An Encaustic Retreat is a collaborative IEA / EAI event, in conjunction with Artisan’s Materials Expo at the Buffalo Thunder Resort in Santa Fe, September 27 – 30, 2018. Here are a few highlights to the weekend: • Register for encaustic / wax workshops, and a large variety of workshops in every medium imaginable at the Artisan’s Expo • Incredible vendor floor, with over 80 vendors, at unbelievable Expo prices!

• Demonstrations and talks • The La Vendéene Awards Banquet at Gabriel’s Restaurant with Keynote speaker, Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach.

• Limited one-on-one consultations with Alyson Stanfield will be available. For more info and to sign-up click here:

https://artbizcoach.com/flux/ • Juried exhihition, MELTING POT / MELTING POINT, at the Museum of Encaustic Art (MoEA) in Santa Fe, juried by the distinguished Francisco Benitez. Deadline to submit: July 9th. Opening reception Friday, September 28th!

• Come and meet members and network!

FOR MORE INFORMATION, TO REGISTER FOR FLUX, WORKSHOPS and SUBMIT TO THE EXHIBITION, CLICK HERE: https://www.international-encaustic-artists.org/Santa-Fe-2018 4

The 2018 La Vendéene Awards: For Excellence in Encaustic Painting and Artistry International Encaustic Artists (IEA) is hosting the fifth La Vendéenne [la vahn day en] Awards program for artists working with encaustic. The awards are named in honor of a fourth century female encaustic artist, Laia, whose buried remains were found, along with the tools of her encaustic art, in the La Vendée region of France. The La Vendéenne Awards were established in 2011 to recognize artists or groups who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement and practice of encaustic art.

For 2018, nominees for the La Vendéenne Outstanding Contribution Award can be an individual or a group of artists, an organization, or a company who has excelled at one (or more) of the following: o o o o o

Achieved distinction in their artistic career Been innovative in their use of encaustic Made outstanding contributions in education and/or raised the level of excellence in encaustic fine art through teaching Published digital or print material significant to the advancement of encaustic art Developed technical innovation(s) that has helped advance encaustic art

Nominations for the 2018 La Vendéenne Award may be made by anyone in the art community. Up to three runners up and one awardee will be selected by a qualified, impartial jury. All finalists will receive free entrance into the IEA retreat in Santa Fe, September 2018. The winner of the La Vendéenne Outstanding Contribution Award will receive a $1000 cash award and runners up will each receive a $500 cash award.

Past nominees and finalists are eligible. Board of Director Members are ineligible to receive La Vendéenne awards during their tenure on the Board of IEA. Winners of previous La Vendéenne Awards are ineligible to receive an award for three years following their win.

Nominations close July 18, 2018 For details, and to submit a nomination: https://www.international-encaustic-artists.org/La-Vendeenne-Nominations 5

INNOVATION For me, being innovative means being open: to new ways of thinking; new ideas; new solutions to problems. The old adage, “necessity is the mother of invention” is what comes to mind when thinking of the artist’s spirit. I know I am not alone in my quest to continually problem-solve and work out ways to break through road blocks, technical glitches, and, sometimes, just plain boredom with the status quo. Whether it is brainstorming new techniques in the studio, or coming up with a whole new way to display a piece of artwork, artists are continually working on solutions to big, complex and, sometimes, mundane problems.

In this issue of encaustiZINE© we hear from members who have pushed themselves, working in unexpected ways, sometimes reaching a personal achievement that was least expected. We hear from artists, who are at various stages of their careers, and they each have an interesting story to tell of how being open, thinking outside the box, being truly innovative in their thinking has helped to propel their art and their career forward. I found their stories, and artwork, to be inspiring.

We also have two guest writers in this issue. Elise Wagner, artist and innovator, tells us about her work developing encaustic collagraphy and her product, Wagner Encaustic Collagraph White.

And Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach, who will be the Keynote at the La Vendéene Awards this September in Santa Fe, sheds some wisdom on simple steps any artist can take to promote their work at whatever career stage they may be. Alyson will also be offering one-on-one consulations at our members retreat, FLUX, this coming September in Santa Fe. The pages preceding me have all the info you need to participate in this great professional development opportunity.

I’m also happy to be including a lovely reflection by one of our first Edgewood Farm at Castle Hill, Truro, MA, Residency Grant recipients, about her time at the residency this Spring, up on the Cape Cod peninsula.

Enjoy and happy Summer!

Melissa Rubin

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Innovating in Practice and Process

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By Paula Roland

We think of innovation as occurring in a “light bulb moment”, however an exhibit currently at MoMa, The Long Run, tells a different story. It features many well known artists in their collection but differs from typical museum shows because it illuminates not only the work they are famous for, but illustrates that these artists did not stop innovating after reaching acclaim. MoMa’s written materials state that they are “…united by a ceaseless desire to make meaningful work, year after year, across decades” and that “…invention results from sustained critical thinking, persistent observation, and countless hours in the studio.”

Innovation and creativity have long been favorite topics of mine. They apply to both the materials and content of artmaking, to teaching, and to life.

They can be learned and they can be taught. This essay revisits what I have learned and how innovation applies to my work and that of others.

She relayed that she wrote a poem she could not finish, so she put it away and came back to it a few years later and was able to complete it easily. She said she could not finish it before because she had just “not lived long enough”. This reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell’s less poetic premise that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery of a field. For me, this also applies to solutions for hanging a complicated piece!

A professor once challenged me to be as ambitious as possible in my work (in scale, form, and content). This “permission” has served me well and allowed me to have a larger vision. I don’t think much about practicality during process, just finding the best aesthetic solutions. I thought my installation Disappear would never find a home because of its size and complicated hanging. But it did!

The following are some common traits among individuals who are considered originals:

Time is on your side. Adam Take Risks: Don’t be afraid to ABOVE: Small Shifts and Massive Alterations © 2018 Bonny Grant, psychologist and top fail. Bonny Leibowitz took big Lebowitz, 86” x 73”; Encaustic wax monotypes and ink on Masa paper rated Wharton professor, says he risks when she cut apart several works better if he procrastinates, of her large encaustic giving his ideas more time to “incubate” in the back of his monotypes and reconfigured them, suspending them from mind. This reminds me of a Native American girl of abour the ceiling. Innovative artists like Bonny welcome 16 who visited my studio. She told me she was a poet and uncertainty, or as Keats called it “the ability to be in we talked about how it can be difficult to know how to uncertainties, mysteries, doubts”. It has been said that the greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because finish some works. they're the ones who try the most. (see Bonny Lebowitz OPPOSITE: Disappear (side view), © 2009, Paula Roland, 78” x 80”, Installation, twelve layered encaustic monotypes, fluorescent lights; Photo: 8 above, Small Shifts and Massive Alterations) Bernard Handzel

ABOVE: Dual Path © 2016, Paula Roland, 38” x 38”; Encaustic monotype, layered, Kitakata paper; Photo: Eric Swanson

Challenge Your Assumptions: Ask “Why not?” or “What if?.”

In 1997 painter Janet Echelman went to India for a residency but her paints failed to arrive. She observed local fishermen weaving their nets and this became a light bulb moment. She transformed her practice, using nets as a way to create volumetric form without heavy solid materials. (link:http://www.echelman.com/) If painters can be sculptors, why can’t encaustic prints be largescale or combined with video? Translucent, layered? Presented without frames? (see Dual Path and Water at My Door)

ABOVE: Water at My Door © 2013, Paula Roland, 96” x 43”; Encaustic monotype with video projection. Photo: Paula Roland

Embrace Chance: Take advantage of the unexpected. I purposely select materials and processes that are somewhat out of my control. Currently I work with encaustic—utilizing heat, gravity, chemical action and chance for monotypes and painting. With encaustic monotypes my studio becomes a stage for improvisational action and reaction, embracing chance.

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ABOVE: Sightlines (triptych) © 2016, Paula Roland, 39” x 60”; Encaustic monotypes on Shikoku paper mounted on Dibond; Photo: Eric Swanson

Recognize Patterns: Perceive the significant sameness or differences in ideas, events, or physical phenomena. An earlier installation, Disappear, developed when recognizing accidental shapes in prints as being similar to eroding wetlands that I saw from above in an airplane. Layering these prints, the partial translucency of the waxed paper, and cutting shapes from the paper added dimension and made the piece more experiential for the viewer. (see Disappear)

Make Connections: Pay attention! Bring together seemingly unrelated ideas, objects, or events in a way that leads to new concepts. Concerns about our changing planet led me to create the Newlandia series, where layering and eroding texture in encaustic paintings resembled the earth as seen from above and nature’s own processes of wearing down and building up. These led to more obvious aerial views, some resembling topographic maps. Maps seemed to be everywhere and I equate them with a personal lifelong search, a journey to know myself.

Play and Experimentation: Set aside time to explore. My Sightlines series came from such a session. Experimenting with a large comb tool on the Roland HOTbox I was looking for a new way of seeing and a way to add geometric form to my gestural marks. On a whim, I folded the paper and printed across the folds. Working intuitively I unfolded the paper, refolded, and reprinted many times. The resulting edges and angular shapes added a counterpoint to the gesture. The pieces are shown flattened though they have potential for actual dimension, color interplay, and much more. Not surprisingly the results resemble topographic maps to me! They shift perceptions by changing the “line of sight”. (see Sightlines) See the Commonplace in New Ways: Transform the familiar to the strange or the strange to the familiar. Working with paper is so common that we overlook its possibilities. In 2003 I exhibited thirty-five foot encaustic monotype scrolls for the first. Two dimensions became three!

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ABOVE: Fire and Ice (detail) © 2012, Paula Roland, 42” x 104”; Encaustic monotypes (8 layered) and fluourescent lights; Photo: Paula Roland

Later, because paper becomes translucent with wax, I thought to add back lighting as part of the presentation. I then I considered drawing. Drawing on paper is a no brainer, but why not heat encaustic prints from behind and draw into their waxy surface? (see Fire and Ice)

Paula Roland’s awards include commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts and for the US Department of State’s American Embassies in South Africa and Uganda. Roland began teaching encaustic monotypes in 1996 and is credited with bringing the process to popular awareness through her teaching and exhibitiions. She is recipient of many fellowships and residencies. Articles on Paula have appeared in Surface Design Journal, Artist’s Magazine, and the Santa Fean Magazine, among others.

Her works are included in several books

Form Networks: Nourish associations between people for an exchange of ideas and support. Workshops can be life changing, along with other gatherings such as science clubs, book clubs, critique groups, conferences and so forth. We open our minds as we connect with those that enlighten and inspire us.

and media on encaustic including Joanne Mattera’s The Art of Encaustic Painting. She holds an MFA from the University of New Orleans and exhibits and teaches internationally. Roland lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2013 Roland received the Vendenne

SOME FINAL TIPS:

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Study art history so you can know if you are originating or repeating.

If you see another artist’s work that you like, don’t ask how they created it. Figure it out from the materials listed and what you see. Your work will evolve differently, probably better, and that’s a great thing.

Have big ideas and you will be noticed and rewarded.

award for Innovation from the International Encaustic Artists. Art website: http://www.PaulaRoland.com; Workshop site: www.RolandWorkshops.com; Instructional DVD: Encaustic Monotypes: Painterly Prints with Heat and Wax, is available here: http://www.rolandworkshops.com/products/dvd-encaustic-monotypespainterly-prints-with-heat-and-wax; order Roland HOTBox here:

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http://www.ventafume.com/roland-hotbox-for-encaustic

Innovation, Necessity and Helping Hands

By Stephanie Hargrave 2017 IEA Project Grant Recipient

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I don’t think I’ve ever set out to be innovative. It doesn’t occur to me, and I’m not even sure if it comes naturally. I certainly didn’t think about being innovative when I embarked on a new project earlier this year. A few month later, however, I was prompted by an email from International Encaustic Artists. They were getting ready for a publication on the theme, and at that point I began to think of my recent work as innovative.

was so different. I simply couldn’t shake it. My work began to reflect my feelings about the new administration, which naturally spilled into a plethora of disappointments in regard to racial equality, treatment of refugees, and also a focus on women’s rights and the #metoo movement.

Suddenly I had a problem. I was happily working to fulfill my grant obligation, but also couldn’t not engage in political work. This also was new – I don’t consider myself a In 2017, I received an IEA Project Grant to make a body of conceptual artist, but at this particular moment, I was work paying homage to nature, the ever-fascinating source compelled. Thankfully, the gallery has two distinct sections, of my inspiration. The proposal outlined how I wanted to which helped me come up with the title of the show: use all the creative skills I had ever accumulated to make an Obeisance / Derision. Obeisance for the side ‘bowing down’ installation using clay, encaustic, steel, to nature, Derision for my pieces mocking sterling, paper, thread, yarn and string. I felt Trump. The next task was to make the The whole project was strongly about using a variety of materials show comprehensive even given the becoming a strange and wanted to make sculptural work as well disparity of feeling. I was exclaiming both ‘innovation out of necessity’ as 2D encaustic paintings to create an awe and dismay but wanted the overall type experience – it was environment.

To combine my jewelry feeling to be one of calm, and it needed to necessary to keep working making days with my pottery making ones, have aesthetic interest. regardless of how different married with my encaustic abilities as well as the shapes were from what I We got to work and the pieces slowly my childhood obsession, crochet, was the had imagined, and it was began coming together. We each had goal. I had a year. proving new in really lovely tasks, and would work together for full ways.

Then, the exhibition schedule for our days, accompanied by delicious food and cooperative gallery came out, and I was great conversation. Each woman took clay given February – much earlier than I had anticipated. As the home and made the beginnings of pinch pots. They date of the show quickly approached, I realized I would wrapped them back up in plastic and brought them back for need some help. I asked a few artist friends, and they were me to continue pinching and forming into the shapes I kind enough to lend me their skills and time. They were wanted. To my surprise, each of their “starts” went in also open to taking art as payment. I was so grateful! I different directions – something I had not thought of at all! managed to complete the work in time with the help of Diane’s pieces all eventually became the rounded A-line skirt shaped pieces in the #MeToo installation, Miriam’s became Miriam Works, Diane Kane and Rickie Wolfe. the components of Growth and Beauty, Rickie’s became During this time, a lot was going on politically as well, which Cluster, and mine became Obeisance. That was a real eyeI usually do a pretty good job of ignoring. This past election opener for me. I hadn’t taken into account how much their OPPOSITE: Unity © 2018, Stephanie Hargrave; Paper, watercolor, prints, encaustic, thread. Photo: © Wendy Simons Photography

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ABOVE: Left: Obeisance (detail) © 2018, Stephanie Hargrave; Porcelain, encaustic, paper, thread, steel wire; Right: Equality © 2018, Stephanie Hargrave; Porcelain, encaustic, birch panel

would direct the final shapes, and because it happened that way, it felt innovative. The whole project was becoming a strange ‘innovation out of necessity’ type experience – it was necessary to keep working regardless of how different the shapes were from what I had imagined, and it was proving new in really lovely ways. By the end, it felt like a gift – it allowed for varied shapes that would have been too similar had I made them all myself from start to finish. It was shared, and therefore more interesting.

Another innovation was the way my need for help became a central part of the meaning and intent behind much of the work. I had started making a paper/encaustic quilt but needed help hand stitching the pieces together. The quilt ended up much larger than I could have done by myself in the time allotted, and it was a clear nod to “women’s work”,

the long history of quilting, and women working together (think Gee’s Bend artists). It was my way of acknowledging and paying homage to the two woman’s marches I took part in here in Seattle. The title was Unity, and truly wouldn’t have meant as much had I done it alone.

If to innovate means to do something new or to make changes to anything established, then I think the project was new, if only for me, in that I’d never asked for help before. It was a great lesson – you can ask for help! And you can still have the outcome you wished for – and in my case, it was even better than I had imagined. Other innovative elements were the wiring together of porcelain components – something I’d never done, but that allowed the sculptures to grow in interesting ways. Also, we were altering the established way quilts are made by using paper instead of

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ABOVE: Left: #metoo © 2018, Stephanie Hargrave, size varies (each approx. 4” x6”); Porcelain, encaustic, steel wire.

Right: Beauty © 2018, Stephanie Hargrave, 24” x 10” x 5”; Porcelain, encaustic, yarn, steel wire

fabric. We enforced the paper by dipping it into wax, fusing it, and allowing the leathery paper to be stronger when sewn.

Stephanie Hargrave has been painting and working in clay since college,

We were collaborating out of necessity on my part, but the outcome was more enjoyable for the company and the combined skill sets. I know I could have done it myself, but it wouldn’t have been done in time. The need for help became the new method of achieving my goal, and to my delight, it fostered creativity in a completely new way. The moral support I had with my group of lovely helpers was immeasurable as well. I had no idea that food, company, politics and a deadline could be so fulfilling.

Seattle’s Swedish Hospital and the University of Washington Medical Center, Barclays International in Texas, Abri Hotel in San Francisco, the Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland, and Kaiser

where she studied color theory, ceramics, sculpture, drawing and painting, as well as creative writing. She has shown her work in Seattle, Minneapolis, San Luis Obispo, Santa Fe, New York and Atlanta, and her paintings are in several corporate collections, including University House in Wallingford,

Permanente in Baltimore. She recently received a project grant from International Encaustic Artists.

She donates to a variety of auctions each year, co-runs Shift Gallery in Seattle, and maintains memberships with Artist Trust, Pratt Fine Arts Center, the Center on

to

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participating

in

the

Contemporary Art and the International Encaustic Artists. She is looking forward 2018 Seattle Art Fair this August.

http://www.stephaniehargrave.com/

Echoes Through Time

By Robin VanHoozer

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In the studio I have been preparing my solo exhibition Echoes Through Time that will open at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, Missouri in April of 2019 and is curated by executive director Dr. Brett Knappe. In Echoes Through Time, I strive to reveal the invisible routine of essential daily tasks typically performed by women. My grandmother’s journals fired my imagination. The handwritten journal entries detailed her everyday life. Her words echo to me across time and were seminal for my work.

The importance she placed on documenting her day-to-day life inspired me to depart from my abstract style to follow new avenues and in the process discover a series of innovations as I explore themes of time, gender, work, and resolve through the use of encaustic and mixed media.

One of the aspects of working with encaustic wax that fuels my art-making is the versatility of the medium. My process evolved through small steps while exploring the many varied applications of encaustic beginning with the use of linen threads coated in encaustic paint. I first used the waxed threads in my abstract paintings, placing them on the panel, pouring a layer of medium over the top of the threads, and guiding the flow of the colors. One might ask, how do you go from abstract constructs to realistic motifs in such an abrupt manner? As I struggle with this question I am also compelled to make the work reveal a mindful walk through daily life. The use of threads is the common denominator between the two. While the different styles may seem disconnected they are coming full circle as my abstract work, one of which is First Light, play a role in the culmination of the installation. I expanded the use of

threads in a variety of new ways in numerous works. The majority of the work in the exhibition has thread or stitching incorporated in some form. Hand-sewing the painted paper is one of the primary techniques in the construction of my current work. Stitching not only reflects the past, it harkens to the future through expanding the boundaries of traditional techniques. In the production of this body of work my guiding instinct has been to know what I need to create and then figure out how to make it.

The innovations in Echoes Through Time allow my work to connect with the distinctive story inspired by my grandmother’s journal. I developed new techniques to expand the applications of working with encaustic and paper in three dimensions. My natural curiosity led to experimentation that overcame the challenges involved with a large-scale installation. I transformed paper and encaustic, two things delicate when separate, into a strong material with which to create. Throughout the entire body of work I explored combinations of encaustic and other media such as lace, thread, bone, and photographs.

The highlight of the installation will be the Internals, a group of seven encaustic and paper dresses that will be suspended, ghost-like, from the ceiling. Making a life size wax dress does present challenges. The innovations in my first dress, Chloe, involved using traditional sewing techniques adapted for paper and wax plus creatively solving problems that arose during the construction. I enjoy the unique process of working with encaustic and paper and seeing the translucent layers form into the “fabric” and then into the structure of the dress. There is no cloth fabric in the dresses.

OPPOSITE: Mix, Bake, Prepare, Roast © 2016, Robin VanHoozer, 33” x 18”; Encaustic, photographs, thread, artificial sinew, bone; ABOVE: First Light © 2017, Robin VanHoozer, 51” x 51”; Encaustic and linen threads on panel.

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ABOVE, From left to right: Chloe (Front, side and back view) © 2016, Robin VanHoozer, 40” x 28” x 26”; Encaustic, photographs, thread, vintage lace on paper

The “fabric” is Kozo and Hosho paper cut into individual pattern pieces, dipped into medium, and then painted with encaustic. My tool of choice in this endeavor is my iron. First and foremost, I am a painter and it is important to me that there is a painterly hand throughout exhibition. Stitching the pieces together required creative techniques to produce, for example, a dart on a bodice or a gather on a skirt. In this detail of my third dress, Flora linen threads dipped in encaustic paint are used to attach images and lace, becoming part of the narrative.

At the heart of Echoes Through Time are the Books and Chambers of Life, which comprise seven handmade books housed in seven wooden boxes that I call chambers, one for each day of the week. Sunday’s book ‘Bake’ focuses on the task of baking. I began exploring combinations of encaustic

with different materials that would be stitched into the book pages. The books include text from my grandmother's journal along with text and images that add my voice overlaid with encaustic paint. I learned new book-binding techniques while assembling the books. The chambers represent secret rooms in which to store the books. It took several tries and involved a great deal of experimentation to develop the best process to incorporate the photographs into the doors of the chambers. This involved multiple steps beginning with dry mounting the photographs onto board, adding wax over the image, then adhering them to the panel.

All I know of my grandmother comes from photographs and her journal. She recorded the ordinary tasks of her days.

When I read the entry “Cyclone struck house” without any

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ABOVE: Bake Š 2016, Robin VanHoozer, Handmade Book: encaustic, photographs, thread, mixed media on paper.

further detail, I knew she was a strong, resolute, and stoic woman. I portrayed this strength with the use of bone contrasting with the delicate paper. In Mix, Bake, Prepare, Roast the sturdy cattle bone is the support for paper. The bone was dipped in wax, heated, and smoothed with a scraper. Dipping the bone in wax is fascinating because bone is porous and absorbs the wax, creating a beautiful surface and texture. Bones are also used in the rest of the series and as handles on the chamber doors and bookmarks.

While in the studio I look forward to each discovery that emerges while creating Echoes Through Time. Each new innovation builds the narrative of the daily life story chronicled. The revelations I’ve learned have unveiled themselves in their own time and just like the continuing story in Echoes Through Time, my path is not set and the journey is a road worth traveling.

Robin VanHoozer finds the link between the reality of the outside world and the inner being. This ability to connect daring vision and spontaneous imagination is displayed in her work.

Residing in St. Joseph, Missouri and raised with a background rich in history and nature, her work displays a love of dynamic movement and vivid color. Robin received her MA in Studio Art from the University of Missouri in Kansas City. She is a 2017 Artist INC Advance alum. Robin exhibits locally throughout the Midwest as well as nationally. Recently, her Common Ground series was the subject of a solo

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exhibition at the Kansas City Artists Coalition. Sager Braudis Gallery in Columbia, Missouri and Weinberger Fine Art in Kansas City, Missouri represent Robin.

Additionally her work can be seen at http://www.robinvanhoozerart.com.

Break the Rules – But test!

By Margaret Bertrand

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“Whenever I have to choose between two evils, I always like to try the one I haven’t tried before” - Mae West The rules say our supports for encaustic work should always be rigid and porous. But you may find you need to challenge the rules and challenge yourself to keep true to your artistic vision. Impermanence is the central theme of my work. In early 2010, I began The Waterfall Series. They are all encaustic paintings, focused on a single subject.

I love copper and its sparkle adds a lot when combined with encaustic. People really liked the work but the peeks of copper just didn’t do much to the overall translucency of the water. Plus, shining the copper was problematic when interspersed with encaustic. To add more reflectivity to the surround, I added copper leaf.

After working on this series for nearly a year and a half, I wanted more emphasis on the transparency and mistiness of the water because I felt my message was one of fluidity and unknowing rather than solidity and knowing.

This still did not give me the desired effect so I moved on to steel. Initially I purchased a plate at the hardware store and treated it as I had the copper, however the encaustic did not successfully adhere to it.

Serendipitously, IEA held a conference in 2011 in Portland, Oregon, which I attended; Binky Bergsman and Randi Harper gave a participant demonstration using copper and clay as substrates.

A light bulb went on for me and on my return home I began experimenting with copper and other materials as substrates. While copper has the rigidity desired, it is not porous like wood. Thus, it needs to be treated. One of the things I learned at the conference was how to treat it so I did not have to experiment to find just the right method to find what would help the wax adhere to the copper. Following Binky and Randi’s directions, I used a phosphoric acid on the copper plus a pastel ground after the acid dries. I have never had an adhesion problem with copper treated this way as a substrate.

About this time I had a new fireplace insert installed in my living room and was about to throw away the old stainless fireplace reflector. I decided to try to recycle it since it would be environmentally sound, and better yet, FREE! I used R & F white encaustic gesso divided with strips of masking tape on the fireplace reflector, painted it with encaustic, and then removed the masking tape which let a lot of the stainless show through, giving it sparkle. It didn’t have the translucency I wanted but I liked the overall feel. I hung it in my outside courtyard and it has held up very well for at least five years.

I learned on a piece with a similar substrate that it is important to cover all the encaustic gesso with encaustic if you hang it outdoors, or you may get peeling of the gesso.

OPPOSITE: Waterfall #32, © 2012, Margaret Bertrand, 3” x 3”; Encaustic on

copper; ABOVE: Waterfall #126, © 2013 Margaret Bertrand, 15.5” x 14”; 21 Encaustic on stainless steel fireplace reflector.

Seeing that neither the copper nor the stainless substrate had given me the transparency I was after, I moved on to a completely different material – clear drafting film or what is sometimes called Mylar. In my case, I used Grafix Duralar clear drafting film. This comes in both rolls as well as sheets, matte as well as clear.

Sizes in sheets vary from 8.5” x 11” to 18” x 24” to 24” x 36”. Rolls are numerous including 12”, 20” and 40” by 50 feet, 25 feet or 12 feet.

Thicknesses also vary. I used .005.

Here I had to experiment to solve the adhesion problem, as both the matte and clear are very slick. Luckily, I had ABOVE: Waterfall #86 © 2012 Margaret Bertrand, 44” x 10”, silver paint & variegated leaf on birch panel with encaustic on clear drafting film suspended with stainless standoffs. LEFT: Waterfall #52 © 2012, Margaret Bertrand, 20” x 6.5”; Encaustic & tar on clear drafting film suspended from a redwood bar hung over a birch panel covered with silver leaf. RIGHT: Waterfall #64 © 2012, Margaret Bertrand, 48” x 20”; Encaustic on clear drafting film mounted over a redwood bar at the top, on encaustic on birch panel, and held

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heard Richard Frumess of R & F Paints speak at several conferences about how he tested for adhesion, so I used the same process. I cut several squares of the film, treated each square in a different manner, painted it with encaustic in approximately the same way I would a waterfall, and put them in my freezer overnight. The next morning I thawed them, and put them back in the freezer again. I repeated this about four times. The last time when they were thawed, I whapped them on my counter. The only method that did not result in the encaustic chipping off the clear drafting film was light sanding.

The clear drafting film and the tar worked well because it served my messages: the fluidity and impermanence of the water, the texture and solidity of the rock. That’s something to keep in mind as you innovate – use materials because they enhance your voice and message. Otherwise you risk having your work look gimmicky.

A book I would recommend if you feel stuck in bringing innovations to your work is Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life.Though a choreographer, she provides advice that is universal.

SOME CAUTIONS IN THE USE OF DRAFTING FILM:

This was the method I then used to paint the waterfalls for several paintings. To enhance the rocks surrounding and in the rapids and waterfalls, I also experimented with several methods: 1) using tar for the rocks, 2) hanging the drafting film in front

FUSE GENTLY WITH YOUR HEAR GUN OR YOU WILL GET WRINKLES OR HOLES IN THE DF. • DO NOT USE A TORCH • COLD AGGRAVATES THE CHIPPING PROBLEM • SECURE THE PIECE WHEN IT IS COMPLETE WITH DEVICES SUCH AS STAND-OFFS; THIS WILL MAKE IT MORE RIGID • TRANSPORT THE PIECES WITH CARE; WHEN THEY FLEX, THEY WILL CHIP • WHEN YOU SELL A PIECE, OFFER TO HANG IT

of a wooden substrate painted with ABOVE: Waterfall #146 (AKA Layers of Faith), © 2015m Margaret Bertrand,20” x 20”; 3 layers of encaustic, 3) hanging the drafting film in encaustic, one with tar & encaustic, suspended front of various types of leaf (i.e. silver from a redwood bar mounted on copper covered birch panel. leaf, variegated leaf) as well as combinations of all three. Here are some of my results: Waterfall # 64, #52 and #86. You can see that the tar gave them much more texture as well as a deeper black color.

The most recent Waterfall incorporates multiple layers of clear drafting film over a wooden panel covered in copper.

Each layer of drafting film was suspended from a redwood bar with waxed thread and painted in a different manner.

This achieved the affect I wanted which was a mist-like waterfall.

It was Waterfall #146, also called “Layers of Faith.” Layers of faith represents the symbolism of my childhood Christian faith and the Buddhist faith of my later adult life.

FOR THE BUYER. TAKE YOUR HEAT GUN. EXPLAIN ITS DELICACY AND THAT YOU WILL REPAIR IT IF DAMAGE OCCURS. Margaret Bertrand has been painting full time for twenty years.

Her work has been exhibited and sold in the San Francisco Bay area and in San Luis Obispo county. Margaret was Chief Business Officer of IEA in 2011/12 and was on its Board of Directors from 2009 to 2012. She served as Treasurer and as Advisor to the Board during that time. She is a member of the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art Painting Group (TPG), where she served as copresident in 2015/16. While in the San Francisco Bay Area, Margaret served on the Boards of ProArts (Oakland), ArtShip Foundation (Oakland and San Francisco), Chair of the Arts & Culture Committee of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, and Convener of the Arts Education Task Force of the Oakland Cultural Plan as well as a Trustee of the Oakland Zoo. Margaret graduated from Northwestern University in

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Evanston, Illinois as a psychology major with a minor in art history and went on to spend thirty three years in business. She resides in Los Osos, California on the Central Coast. http://www.MargaretBertrandArt.com. For a Book of some of some of Margaret’s Waterfall Paintings: http://www.blurb.com/b/3238714-waterfalls. For a Book of Margaret’s Poetry & Photography -www.blurb.com/b/2308034loon-cries

Pushing the Boundaries:

The Story of How One Artist Went Beyond Encaustic and Inadvertently Innovated a Process and a Product

By Elise Wagner

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As an artist, I’ve always been interested in pushing the boundaries of my chosen medium and exploring their physical properties to innovate new ways of working. I am primarily a painter, but I began studying printmaking in college. Over time, I have integrated elements of printmaking into my working vocabulary. To this day, I bounce between encaustic, oil, printmaking, and various mixed media approaches.

When I saw a demonstration of encaustic in college, I taught myself the technique, following an urge to suspend collage materials in my mixed media oil paintings to gain transparency and depth. This was all before the encaustic renaissance; before the internet, books, associations, blogs or conferences on the medium.

What makes my technique unique is that I use pigmented white wax, and marry specific encaustic techniques with collagraphy printmaking. For example, fusing is not necessary. You can incise lines into the wax, emboss fabric textures with a tacking iron, and use wax pens or tjanting tools to make raised lines and marks.

The printmaking part allows for dry point etching, inking and wiping, along with various intaglio, relief and monotype techniques. Through research that is now at my fingertips, I learned that no one had been working this way before. It wasn’t until 2010, when my technique was introduced and shared for the first time in the Lissa Rankin book Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax, that it became known, and eventually taught by a few other artists around the country.

In printmaking terms, a collagraph is a collaged printing plate. I learned that it’s spelled two different ways “collograph” or “collagraph”, both meaning the same thing. The collagraphy technique is not new, and I’m not the first artist to create collagraphs using beeswax. Most often, beeswax is more commonly used by printmakers for collagraphs.

However, using clear beeswax on a clear Plexiglas printing plate makes it both hard to see your mark-making and the true colors of the inks when applied to your plate.

Having worked with different transferring processes that don’t require a press, such as Xerox, photo, and graphite transfer, I referred to myself as a “closet printmaker.” My expansion into encaustic collagraph arrived by accident in an “ah-ha” moment in the studio. I was looking at the texture of my paintings, and imagined putting the painting on a press and seeing if it would make an imprint. I was compelled to get a roll-

OPPOSITE: Elise Wagner looking through her printing plate Sigma; ABOVE, TOP: One of the first encaustic collagraph monoprints made on an etching press using R&F Pigment Sticks. Omega & Infinity; ABOVE, BOTTOM: Lost Chart 2; encaustic collagraph monoprint, 10" x 10" on Rives BFK; All images © Elisa Wagner

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ABOVE: Original rolling pin, wood panel plate, the resulting print (right) with the printing panel turned into a painting (left);

ABOVE: Wagner inking, wiping the plate and printing her collagraph print Lost Chart 2 © Elise Wagner

© Elise Wagner

ing pin, not for making pies or pizza, but to experiment with printing my encaustic textures applied to a thin 1/8” thick square of veneer panel as the plate, and using R&F Pigments sticks as the inks. I put the weight of my entire body on the rolling pin, which resulted in somewhat of an imprint, but not nearly as good as an etching press would be at capturing the detail of marks, intaglio relief and incised lines. Plus, it was very tiring to make just one! I proceeded to develop the technique by participating in three different fundraisers between 2003 and 2005, all of which gave me access to the coveted etching presses I needed to conduct my experiment.

First, I had been asked to participate in a marathon fundraiser event for a local arts organization to create and

donate prints on site with other artists from the community. I thought, rather than just make monotypes, what if I try and print the textures of my encaustic paintings? I prepared two different panels with wax texture for the event, along with my R&F Pigment sticks. I also prepared the paper with sizing to print with oil sticks and prevent bleeding. Luckily, the artist running the etching press at the event was willing to indulge me with my experiment. Much to my surprise, every print turned out better than expected. I made nine prints over the course of the event, and they were all purchased by patrons. Although I had no photos of the prints, I still had the plates for making more. Having no ability to document my first limited edition of encaustic collagraph prints, I was motivated to make more! Eventually I made those plates into cradled panels, and turned them into 10” x 10” encaustic paintings which all sold.

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Newest series of encaustic collagraph prints in a grid on the studio wall printed onto 16" x 16" Encaustiflex microfiber; © Elise Wagner

Remnant Topography 9, © Elise Wagner; encaustic collagraph monoprint, 10" x 10" on Rives BFK

The next fundraiser that helped further my innovation was for the Children’s Heart Foundation. I was there to do encaustic painting; however, having heard that a printmaker and press would be at the event, I packed one of my panel plates and approached master printer, Jane Pagliarulo, and asked her to run my panel plate through her press using oil based inks to see what would happen. From my experience working at Gamblin Artist’s Colors, I already knew it wouldn’t work; oil based inks are made with boiled plate oil which causes the wax on the collagraph to soften and stick to the paper when put through an etching press. As it turned out, this particular experiment was indeed a total disaster!

encaustic rule of law is to never mix it with anything waterbased, especially acrylic. As it turned out, the soy and honeybased Akua inks formed the perfect match for printing from the textures with my Wagner Encaustic Collagraph White beeswax! At this stage of development, I began using foam between the press blankets to ensure that the drypoint etched, relief, and incised lines printed well. The foam softens the pressure to the encaustic collagraph itself, while allowing for the ink to get into the relief and intaglio lines and marks. Soon after, I did some one-on-one printing with Jane Pagliarulo who, with a newborn, had started acclimating to using Akua non-toxic soy and honey-based inks. She and I would go on to teach Encaustic Collagraph workshops together from 2007-2014. Later something miraculous happened when a collector gave me her Takach 24” x 48” etching press, which completely transformed my studio and teaching practice.

Still searching for the right type of pigment, I was invited to yet another monothon for a local printmaking non-profit. A colleague encouraged me to try a new non-toxic soy and honey based ink called Akua. I was skeptical because the

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Wagner Encaustic Collagraph White (WECW) came about in 2004, when I developed and marketed a boutique earth-color line of encaustic paints called Wagner Encaustics. When I stopped making the paints in 2010, I had already re-formulated the white for printmaking and teaching purposes. The specially formulated ratio gives WECW a fluid and milky consistency with a heavy pigment load that easily releases from the paper when printing. It makes for the perfect marriage with Akua soy and honey-based inks, but is not used with oil based inks. For WECW, I created the package labeling, design and literature for WECW. Since stiffer oil based printmaking inks traditionally come in a tin can, I liked the idea of using the same size and type tin familiar to printmakers.

Having arrived at developing the perfect combination of materials, in 2016 I presented it at the Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI), the largest annual printmaking conference that attracts over 2,500 academics, students and professionals. I demonstrated to a captive audience of printmakers and met the inventor of Akua Inks, Susan Rostow. I also presented Encaustic Collagraph at the International Encaustic Conference in 2013 and taught a class at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill.

presses, is my off-site teaching. I targeted my workshops towards printmaking shops or “ateliers” around the country, places with presses, plates, paper and inks already there. I have learned over the past five years that every press is definitely different!

Unknowingly, working on unfamiliar presses combined with different temperatures and climates sometimes posed surmountable challenges with the wax in terms of it sticking to the paper.

I do most of my work at my studio in Portland, Oregon. I am currently continuing another encaustic painting technique that I have been creating my work with for over 20 years that involves trapping air. Having always taken a wabi-sabi approach to my work, I am able to execute surfaces that match the creative intention of my work to depict geologic and moon-like terrains. I am able to further exploit these distinct surfaces through the creation of both my encaustic paintings and collagraphs for printing. I also create graphite rubbings and transfers from the surfaces of my finished pieces before they leave the studio that I then create new work from.

Elise Wagner is an artist based in Portland, Oregon.

Subjects of science such as particle physics and astronomy as well as the sublime and the celestial serve as the inspiration for Elise’s work. Elise is a 2015-16 recipient of The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and The greatest challenge for me was assimilating printmaking she exhibits her paintings and prints in Portland, Seattle, Palm Springs and Houston. Elise teaches into my studio practice on my own terms as a painter. Once I encaustic painting workshops and her unique had a press, I was initially scared of it, believe it or not! I had printmaking process in her studio in Portland. She has grown to rely on the master printers to set the press and presented her technique at the Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) conference and at the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, MA. register my paper and it took a few months to assimilate. Since then, Elise has also been invited to teach at several institutions nationally Now, with my own press, I learned all of those things on my and internationally including Center for Contemporary Printmaking Norwalk, CT, own, augmenting my studio accordingly to accommodate Women’s Studio Workshop Rosendale, NY, R&F Handmade Paints, Kingston, NY, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro, MA, Piramidal Grafica, Guanajuato, both my printing and painting practice along with my Mexico, Metchosin Summer School for the Arts, Victoria, BC and Burning Bones workshop programming. Another thing that has been Press in Houston. This September, she will be teaching at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop at the Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts in New York City 28 and Pyramid Atlantic in the Washington, D.C. area. http://www.elisewagner.com challenging but also has schooled me greatly on etching

Encaustic Innovation Evolves from a Spray Bottle

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By Cynthia L. Clark

Innovation and inspiration demand a need and experimentation. Ideas and techniques evolve and fuse into patterns and procedures for me, from trying and failing and trying again. For example, I had experimented with watercolors, tempera, pencils, gouache, tissue paper, and nothing achieved what I wanted for an encaustic underpainting. Then I remembered wet pastels. I had used wet pastels with high school students to get them to explore color in a quick, expressive way, and discovered that wet pastels explode with color as encaustic wax medium is added, making them vibrant and alive. So now, most of my paintings begin with a wet pastel under-painting.

First, I spray the white Encausticbord with water, and intuitively add the pastels. The colors melt and mix, layering with surprising results. If an area doesn’t work out, I can easily cover it with encaustic paint later. In fact, I can explore colors with the wet pastels, decide whether I like them or not on the base layer, and change them later with the encaustic paint if needed. I can incise through the encaustic paint, and a brilliant color shows through from the base layer. When the wet pastels dry, thoroughly, on the Encausticbord they look duller than when I first paint them, but when I add layers of encaustic medium, the colors become vibrant again.

I think one compulsion for me to paint with encaustics is the mark-making capabilities of the medium on so many levels.

In fact, I often like to explore mark-making on the substrate, before I even begin with the encaustics. One day, I wanted to explore mark-making, and had always loved using charcoal, graphite, and eraser to loosen up and create abstract drawings. Using a variety of marks to create a spatial illusion, I combined layers of charcoal, graphite, and eraser on a large encaustic board. Each mark indicated a distinct physical point in the illusion of space. I varied marks in terms of size, value, and clarity. Using fingers and hands, I applied some marks with heavy pressure, using my whole arm. Beginning with charcoal, I explored a variety of marks. Then I added graphite, and finally used a pink pearl eraser as a drawing tool. I enjoy how the eraser blends the graphite, and erases through the charcoal.

I made some marks fast, some slow, and explored the mark-making possibilities of each. My encaustic board was now a drawing I enjoyed. But I wanted to try another level and add encaustic wax, paint, and incised lines. As I had previously discovered that using wet pastels worked great under wax, I thought maybe I could spray the charcoal/graphite/eraser drawing with a mist of water to set the charcoal—similar to the pastels—and then

OPPOSITE: Fly Envious Time Till Thou Run Out Thy Race. (Step one). This slide shows the first stage done on the Encausticbord, with graphite, charcoal, eraser, and a

little wet blue pastel; ABOVE: Fly Envious Time Till Thou Run Out Thy Race, © 2017 Cynthia L. Clark, 24 x 24; This shows encaustic medium over the marks in space, with encaustic paint, incised lines, stencil, and white paint stick.

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ABOVE: A Worn Through Soul Hanging Onto A Dream 2015 © Cynthia L. Clark, 18”x24”, encaustic; This piece shows wet pastels in the background of the sky. Wet pastels were used to plan colors before painting and

ABOVE: Magi or Matriarch: Three Wise Women, 2013 © Cynthia L. Clark,24”x24”; encaustic; This piece shows wet pastels in the background and on the border. I

adding collage elements.

try adding encaustic medium. It worked. I was able to add encaustic paint, incised marks, and other layers to create multi-levels of mark-making. I am excited to try a series using this method.

I began with a need, searching for a way to put colors on a white board, and found the perfect way for me with wet pastels. Then the idea evolved. I wanted to create marks in space and extended the idea from the wet pastels to using water to set the charcoal, graphite and eraser marks. Innovation and inspiration demand a need and experimentation.

planned the colors for the whole piece using wet pastels.

Cynthia L. Clark loves teaching, creating, learning, reading, hiking, and being a gramma. She has been recognized as outstanding art educator for Utah, received the Arthur Watkins award as educator of the year, received a national endowment for the arts scholarship, and many other awards. A veteran teacher, she taught advanced placement art, drawing, and painting for 30 years. She has exhibited her own works of art in many juried shows and won awards including Utah Watercolor Society, BYU Museum, Woodbury Museum, Covey Center, Springville Museum, Utah Alliance of Women in the Arts, Artist’s magazine, and her work is published in Incite 3, a Northlight publication. She is currently an artist for the Utah Division of Arts and Museums where she has taught many workshops on encaustic painting to teachers and students throughout the state of Utah. http://www.cindyclarkart.com

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Gabriela Sanchez Apodaca Reflects on Her Time at Edgewood Farm

IEA awarded Gabriela Sanchez Apodaca a grant to attend the Artist’s Residency at Edgewood Farm: Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, on the Cape Cod peninsula in Massachusetts. Castle Hill is directed by Cherie Mittenthall, who is also the director of the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, just north of Truro on Cape Cod. What follows is Gabriela’s report on her experience at the residency.

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Two weeks of immersion seems sufficient, however, it is just the beginning of a process to find my own discourse on this experience: residence, reside, inhabit and allow all the senses to be imbued with the spirit of the place.

Cape Cod is so beautiful, the first thing I think about is nature in transition and the processes of life. The times of nature that serenely respect its moment of flowering. Spring has not arrived yet so it still feels like a winter climate, gray trees, cold air. Just small buds that let themselves be glimpsed. My work is inspired by this transition. The series is called Transitions and is based on the nature of the place. In OPPOSITE: Transition I, 10” x 10”; Encaustic on wood; ABOVE LEFT:Transition II, 10” x 10”; Encaustic on wood; ABOVE RIGHT: Transition V, 10” x 10”; Encaustic on wood; LEFT: Transition IV, 10”x10”; all images © 2018 Gabriela Sanchez Apodaca

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LEFT: Gabriela created a series of 25 postcards, in encaustic on paper. They are inspired by the natural landscape in which Edgewood Farm is situated.

Gabriela invites you to ‘contemplate, reflect and capture with your eyes’ the same beautiful environment that allowed her to create these pieces.

its slow transformation and presence of change. Encounter in the forms of nature organic lines that speak and mark their own path. I pick up roots, stems, seeds, branches.

They are part of my calligraphic speech in this series. This first search consists of 11 pieces of 10”x 10” made in Encaustic on wood. Each of the pieces represents a visual image of the different abstract Cape Cod landscape.

The nature of Cape Cod invites you to reflect on beauty and its simplicity. Contemplation. Horizon lines that delineate an absolutely beautiful landscape. Virgin, inspiring. However, the position of the peninsula in the Northeast of the United States makes it vulnerable to changes in temperature, hurricanes, strong air currents and high and low tides. You can see the respect that man has for nature in this place since you can perceive its devastating force in unfortunate

times.

Gabriela Sánchez Apodaca (Mexico City, 1972), holds a degree in Textile Design, and a master’s degree in visual communication. Since her graduation from the Master’s Degree in Visual Communication, Gabriela has been consolidating a career combining the personal search for poetics based on technical proficiency of materials. She has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions, in cities such as Madrid (Spain), Leipzig (Germany), Chicago (USA), La Habana (Cuba), Oaxaca (Mexico), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico) and various spaces and museums in Mexico City and Cuernavaca. Her teacher, Huascar Taborga, introduced her to the comprehension and incorporation of fundamental elements of oriental aesthetics.

Particularly the notion of gestures and movement, in which the artist broadens her production codes and turns facts, into ultimate parts of her creative process. Between 2002 and 2018, Gabriela incorporates countless artistic works in which some common elements have a substantial impact. Among these, explorations of the line as a way of representation undoubtedly stands out. As does her increasingly broader notion of writing in its original meaning as inscription. Gabriela divides her time dedicated to the production of artwork and teaching workshops in different techniques. http://www.gabrielasanchez.mx

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A Brief Overview of Grants and Scholarships Offered by IEA The deadlines dates fluctuate each year so be sure to always check on the IEA website for current application guidelines and deadlines.

For more information: https://www.international-encaustic-artists.org/Awards-&-Grants The Emerging Artist Grant:

Chapter Grant:

The Emerging Artist Grant is intended to support those early in their artistic careers, regardless of age, when this kind of support would be most impactful. An IEA Emerging Artist demonstrates potential in their practice, works in a dynamic and exciting way, yet is seeking ways to enhance and strengthen their art practice.

The Chapter Grant is a matching grant which IEA chapters may apply for. The grant may be used to fund an exhibition, a visiting artist workshop or an initiative which the chapter needs funding for.

The Artist Project Grant: The IEA Artists Project Grant is an award for midcareer artists, to be used to support the completion of a project, such as preparing for an exhibition or installation, or the creation and/or completion of a body of artwork.

International Encaustic Conference Scholarship: This scholarship covers entry fee to the annual International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, MA, organized by Cherie Mittenthal of Castle Hill Center for the Arts in Truro.

Artist’s Residency Grant: IEA will pay the fees to Edgewood Farm at Castle Hill, in Truro, MA, for either one 1-month for one artist or one 2-week residency for each of two different artists. Our first residency grant recipient, Gabriela Sanchez Apodaca is featured in this issue of encaustiZINE©.

IEA Members Retreat in Santa Fe Scholarship: This scholarship will cover the cost of registration to FLUX: An Encaustic Retreat, as well as the fee for an encaustic/wax workshop being offered at the Artisan’s Expo, which is in conjunction with FLUX. Deadline to apply is July 1, 2018

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Artists’ Career Moves From Beginner to Established

By Alyson B. Stanfield Alyson Stanfield is an artist mentor, cheerleader, and career consultant. She’s been helping artists for almost two decades through the information she shares free of charge on the Art Biz Blog, the classes she teaches at https://artbizcoach.com/ and at her live workshops. She is the author of I’d Rather Be in the Studio: The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion (4th edition due back in print late 2018). She’s excited to meet you and to speak at FLUX this September in Santa Fe. Alyson will also be offering one-on-one consultations at FLUX. For more information and to sign-up go to: https://artbizcoach.com/flux/

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There are no set steps that can take you from the beginning of your art career to the pinnacle of success. You would likely feel much more at ease if I could advise you to first do this, and then do that, and then do this other thing, and if you follow each step precisely, you’ll be assured a spot in the history books. But I can’t do that.

What I can do is give you some sort of idea of the phases artists work through over the course of their careers: a timeline of artists’ career moves from just starting out to the highest levels of establishing and cementing a reputation.

First, a word of caution: Because an article is linear, you might read this and think that you have to implement one step before you can move on to the next step. This isn’t the case. I can’t come up with a single artist who has hit on each one of these points. Artists who are full of confidence and forging their own paths can jump past entire sections!

Hopefully this list will plant the seeds for your next move.

BEGINNING YOUR ART CAREER:

Start your mailing list immediately. You will have no idea what to do with this, but trust me. Just start the list, even if the names are on scraps of paper in a shoebox. Join and become active in a local artists’ organization. Show your art at local coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores, churches, salons, and, libraries. Post your art on Instagram or a Facebook business page. Try selling your art from Facebook. Host open studios. Invite people to be on your mailing list. Sell your work to friends and family. Rejoice in the fact that they want the work and are happy to support you, rather than bemoaning the fact that you have only friends and family buying your art. Enter juried exhibitions.

Become increasingly particular about your venues. Develop a recognizable style. Get a professional website. Start driving traffic to it. Add another social media platform to your markmarketing mix, such as Pinterest orTwitter. Offer commissions. Always deliver on time (or early). Invest in a

white tent, and enter the art festival circuit. Meet artists, curators, writers, art consultants, and influential people.

MID-CAREER ARTIST: Teach classes to become known as an expert in one area. Dedicate yourself to a monthly newsletter or regular blog posts. Continue your education. Challenge yourself to expand as an artist. Enter more prestigious juried exhibitions, including those in other states. Speak to an audience about your work. Write about art for a local publication. Have a solo exhibition at a local non-profit space. Gain local gallery representation. Continue promoting your art – knowing that you do a better job of it than a gallery can. Meet local collectors and businesses. Start selling your art to them. Get featured in local publications and blogs. Inventory and improve your marketing material. Win awards.

ESTABLISHED ARTISTS: Apply for grants or public art commissions. Snag a solo exhibition at a non-profit space in another city. Meet more curators, writers, art consultants, and influential people. Receive grants. Don’t rest for too long! It’s time to leverage your success. Plan art journeys to see what is available in other cities. Continue learning. Sit on grant and awards panels, and judge exhibitions. Receive public art commissions. Place art in corporate collections. Have solo or small group exhibitions in nearby small museums and in university galleries. Donate your work to a local museum or art center. Gain gallery representation in other cities. Hire people to help you with certain aspects of your business.

You will always be CEO of your art business, but you’ll need help juggling commitments. Understand that higher levels of success come with more business responsibilities. Gain gallery representation in a larger metropolitan area. Work is acquired by a larger museum. Receive more prestigious honors.

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ELISE WAGNER WORKSHOPS PYRAMID ATLANTIC ART CENTER: SEPTEMBER 15 & 16 4318 GALLETIN ST.

SHARY BARTLETT

HYATTSVILLE, MD (301) 608-9101

Shary’s Studio, Vancouver, Canada When: August 17-20, 2018 Encaustic Fiber Arts: Cyanotype, Printing on Fabric, Sculpture: Friday, August 17, 2018

CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY PRINTMAKING: SEPTEMBER 19 & 20 299 WEST AVE. NORWALK, CT (203) 899-7999

Encaustic Mixed Media Collage and Image Transfer: Saturday, August 18, 2018

contact: mmorrow@contemprints.org ROBERT BLACKBURN PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP: SEPTEMBER 22 & 23 TH

Encaustic Photo-alteration + Photo Transfer: Sunday, August 19, 2018

ND

323 W. 39 ST, 2 FLOOR NEW YORK, NY (646) 416-6226

Colour! Molten Wax Paints, Mono-printing, Image Transfer: Monday, August 20, 2018

essye@efanyc.org FOR MORE INFO: www.elisewagner.com/upcoming-classes-in-dc-norwalk-nyc/

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More information: http://www.sharybartlett.com

WWW.ROLANDWORKSHOPS.COM

MARGARET BERRY

ADVANCED ENCAUSTIC TOPICS Paula’s Santa Fe Studio, July 16 – 20 •• INTERMERDIATE ENCAUSTIC MONOTYPES Paula’s Santa Fe Studio, August 7 – 10 •• SILK SCREEN & ENCAUSTIC MONOTYPE: DISCOVERY THROUGH NATURE, STRUCTURE & SPONTANEITY September 5 – 8 (Full! Get on wait list!)

Instructors: Paula Roland & Jeff Hirst At Jeff Hirst Studio, Chicago, IL Call Jeff Hirst for more details: (612) 414-3030 •• LIGHT, DEPTH & MYSTERY: ENCAUSTIC MONOTYPE at Artisan’s Expo (during FLUX retreat) September 29, 9am -4pm at Buffalo Thunder Resort More info: http://www.expoartisan.com/light-depth-andmystery-encaustic-monotypes/ - more-7756 •• MIXED MEDIA & ENCAUSTIC PRINTMAKING (newly added!)

Paula’s Santa Fe Studio, October 23 – 26 •• MARK-MAKING / CARBON LAB MASH UP Paula’s Santa Fe Studio, Nov. 13 – 16 (Full! Get on wait list!)

••

SPECIAL PROJECTS MENTORING Paula’s Santa Fe Studio: Ongoing by special arrangement.

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Prairie Apothecary: Encaustic & Mixed Media Work The National Willa Cather Center Red Cloud, Nebraska July 1 – August 31, 2018 http://www.willacather.org/events/prairie-apothecry-exhibitmargaret-berry

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