Eileen Braun’s Art as a Process
“I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost
T
he artistic road is one often fraught with hills, curves, bumps, and more, yet many artists admit that the
own creative path has been anything but straight. However, experimentation and exploration have resulted in a distinct medium that the nationally recognized, Dunwoody, Georgia based ceramic sculptor describes as “skeletal hulls and Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Braun has lived and worked many years working with clay as a preferred medium. From her fully equipped home clay studio, Braun created and
When starting out in the encaustic wax medium, Braun the experimenting and permission to fail, which is really
in coloration. As she delved into the medium, forms became more complex and she included encaustic wax applications both on the interior and exterior. Braun’s artistic process begins with a sketch. She, like many other artists, keeps a sketchbook to draw in when creative
bowl forms. She has received national attention and awards – in space. The shadows they create are informed by the
Center for the Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia.
from a ceramic artist to a sculptor of encaustic wax. colored pigments to heated beeswax . Traditionally, the liquid or paste is then applied to a surface, such as prepared wood, canvas, etc. Not so for Braun. Her encaustic wax art is entirely her own.
were a blend of my mother attending to our growing family’s
18 GML - September 2020
She settled on reed from the inside of the rattan plant as the material she uses to shape and build her sculptural forms. Then she applies the encaustic wax. “Because wax is used as the pigment binder, encaustics can be sculpted as well or collaged into the surface, or layered, using the encaustic She also has implemented the method of accretion, a constant application of wax to the surface heated and set by countless number of passes with the brush to create a craggy surface that resembles a stalactite or stalagmite. She added, “My materials are selected to guide your eyes
