Encaustic History, Technique, and Curation by Kristen Gallagher

ENCAUSTIC HISTORY, TECHNIQUE, AND CURATION

Kristen M. Gallagher

An Honors thesis Submitted to the Department of Art In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts Meredith College Raleigh, North Carolina December 6, 2012

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Publication Agreement I hereby grant to Meredith College the non-exclusive right to reproduce, and/or distribute this work in whole or in part worldwide, in any format or medium for non-commercial, academic purposes only. Readers of this work have the right to use it for non-commercial, academic purposes as defined by the "fair use" doctrine of U.S. copyright law, so long as all attributions and copyright statements are retained. Meredith College may keep more than one copy of this submission for purposes of security, backup and preservation. Kristen M. Gallagher Dec. 4, 2012

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Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………….1 Part I: The History of Encaustic……………………………………………………..2 Part II: The History of Encaustic Technique…………………………………..…...22 Part III: Encaustic in 2012……………………………………………………...…..27 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………..…….39 Appendix A: Jasper Johns: Encaustic Influences, SECAC and SNCURCS paper and Presentation………………………………………………………………...42 B: An Experience in Student Curation, SEMC paper and presentation..…..58 C: Student Curation in the College Gallery: Wax Foundations……..……...67 D: Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast Exhibition Materials a. Timeline…………………………………………………..…….74 b. Budget………………………………………………..…………76 c. Call to Artists………………………………………..………….77 d. Catalog Essays………………………………….………………78 e. Sponsorship Letters………………………….…………………81 f. Education Programs – List and Evaluation Plans…….………..84 g. Classes to Invite………………………………………….……..87 h. Professor Letters for Education Programs……………….….….88 i. Press Release……………………………………………..……..89 j. Pricelist………………………………………………………….90 k. Curator Talk and Tour……………………………………….... 91 l. Dance/Art Collaboration………………………………………..91 m. Plant & Bee Walk & Talk…………………………………..….91 n. Announcement Card………………………………………..….92 o. Print version of Exhibition Catalogue………………………….94 E: Student Curation Handbook…………………………………………...122 F: Photographic Documentation of Exhibition (CD)

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Introduction This document is the result of work that has spread across most of my college career. I began this journey in 2010, not knowing the extent to which I would learn about encaustic. In the past two years, I have delved into libraries and webpages, dipped my feet into curation and programming, and strengthened my passion for art history and museum studies. This project, really a culmination of my college studies in many ways, is a document that I will most likely never be finished with. Without me planning it to be so, the work, experiences, and ideas surrounding this thesis have materialized into value that has exceeded my expectations for undergraduate study. Little did I know that my research on encaustic would become the backdrop from which I could try out my major, deepen my networks in several fields, and forge real skills beyond any “lesson objectives” I could have written myself. This research has prodded me at times, irritating my perfectionist sensibilities, but the times when it has added such depth to my life and studies far outweigh any annoyance it created. Writing these documents over the course of the past two years has changed me; working on this project has made me a better researcher and an observer of needs. I feel that the art world needs more interested listeners, and I hope that reading this thesis will help you become – if you are not already – an interested listener for the arts. There is much to be done in the field of encaustic art history, and I believe that in writing this work, I have contributed a small amount towards it. It would be my dream to see some of this work used to further the scholarly conversation around encaustic, or for it to be used as a teaching tool for artists and students. Thank you for your interest and for reading; I hope that you will feel some of the excitement I had while researching encaustic as you read.

Part I: The History of Encaustic

Beginnings of Wax as Paint: Greek Encaustic Encaustic painting, though not often discussed in art historical literature, serves an important role in the creation of art throughout the past several centuries. The formulation of encaustic has changed little over the centuries, though like other media, it has gone through multiple stylistic changes. A closer look through art history will yield a diverse and complex past of the medium – a past not easily plotted or pieced together. Encaustic uses wax, heat, and usually pigment to create a work of art or to varnish a work of art or sculpture.1 The term is derived from the Greek enkaustikos, meaning to inust, that is to “burn in”; thus encaustic is marked by the use of heat to melt and fuse layers of beeswax.2 Burning in is the part of encaustic that literally separates the medium from other painting styles that use wax (such as ganosis and wax emulsion), as heat is included in every stage of encaustic painting. As Danielle Rice speculates in her essay, “Encaustic Painting Revivals,” the “magic” of encaustic has caused much debate, as art historians struggle to categorize this complex medium.3 Yet, artists have found encaustic as a means to visually express a unique poetic beauty. Plutarch wrote, “A beautiful woman leaves in the heart of an indifferent man an image as fleeting as a reflection on water, but in a lover’s heart, the image is fixed with fire like an encaustic painting that time will never erase.”4 This romantic notion pairs well with the medium he chooses as his comparison; the very ingredients of this medium cause encaustic works to have a permanence 1

Agneta Freccero, Encausto and Ganosis: Beeswax as Paint and Coating during the Roman Era and its Applicability in Modern Art, Craft, and Conservation (Sweden: ACG, 2002) 5. 2 Joanne Mattera, The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax (New York: Watson-Guptill, 2001) 17. 3 Danielle Rice, "Encaustic Painting Revivals," Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America (New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1999) 5. 4 Gail Stavitsky, Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America (New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1999) 5.

not present in other works Plutarch may have encountered, such as frescoes that could chip and statues that could crack. Encaustic is based upon the layering and fusing of wax and pigment, and because wax becomes inert when hardened, an image will remain fixed within its wax “shell.” Greco-Roman Tradition The origins of encaustic are unknown, though the Greeks may have learned to use wax for utilitarian purposes, such as caulking and painting ships, from the Egyptians, only to pass it down to the Romans.5 There are no known existing examples of either early Egyptian or ancient Greek or Roman encaustic art; only those works called the Fayum portraits exist. However, ancient textual and visual sources, beginning with Homer’s reference in The Iliad to the Greeks’ vermeil-painted ships,6 provide some evidence of early encaustic methods and usages. Authors such as Pliny, Vitruvius, Apuleius, St. Ambrose and John Damascene share similar characterizations of encaustic in their writings: the use of “flowing wax” that has been attached or penetrated by fire.”7 In Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (77-79 CE), the author devotes Book 35 to art, and specifically focuses on encaustic: “We do not know who first invented the art of painting with wax colors and burning in the painting.” Pliny does list several supposedly important artists, including Aristeides, Pausias, and Pamphilos.8 He also specifically mentions a female artist, Iaia Cyzicus, who was well known for her small portraits done in ivory and wax: “There was no painter superior to her for expedition; while at the same time her artistic skill was such that her works sold at much higher prices than those of the most celebrated portrait-painters 5

Frances Pratt and Becca Fizel, Encaustic Materials and Methods (New York: Lear, 1949) 10. J.S. Blackie, "Homer and the Iliad (tr. in verse, with notes)." Archive.org. Tufts. Web. 10 Oct 2011. <http://www.archive.org/stream/homerandiliadtr01homegoog/homerandiliadtr01homegoog_djvu.txt>. Book II. 7 Pratt and Fizel 9. 8 John Bostock, "Pliny the Elder, The Natural History." Perseus - Tufts. Tufts. Web. 5 Oct 2011. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=35:chapter=39>. Book 35, Chapter 39. 6

of her day.”9 Pliny’s writings describe three separate methods of using encaustic: 1) application of wax with a cauteria, 2) engraving on ivory and filling with wax using a cestrum, and a rhabdion, and 3) wax colors dissolved in naptha and applied warm with a brush.10 Each of the three methods was suited to one particular outcome: the first was meant to produce murals; the second to produce small, flat, engraved ivory works similar to cameos; and the third to paint and seal ships.11 Homer wrote that the second method “was invented in Asia Minor and brought to Greece,” while the first and third methods were invented in Greece.12 There were apparently four primary uses for encaustic. Probably the most common was ship painting, a practical solution to both decorating as well as waterproofing the wooden sides of the ship. Panel, or mural, painting was another format. A third was ganosis, the use of encaustic to color the white marble of statuary, to polish it and provide a sheen, and to coat it with a chip-resistant sealant. A 4th-century krater, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrates ganosis, or painting wax on sculpture for surface protection.13 The red-figure krater pictures an artist dipping a brush in a vat that resembles those described by Pliny. Ganosis has been viewed by some as the start of encaustic painting and by others as an offshoot of it. A fourth use for encaustic was decorating fabric. In De Architectura, Vitruvius noted, “Punic wax (is) melted in the fire…let it be smoothed over with waxed cord and clean linen cloths, the same way as naked marble sculptures.” 14 No works and few references to works or artists have survived; the information we have on a few famous works of the time is solely based on literature. “Waxes,” as the works were 9

Bostock (Pliny Book 35, Chapter 35). Cauteria: a tool used to heat wax, Cestrum: long tool with a spoon-like end, Rhabdion: stove. 11 Pratt and Fizel 9; and Rice 6. 12 Freccero 5. 13 Mattera 17; and Freccero 6. 14 Rice 6. 10

called, would have held up well against normal wear and tear, as beeswax is generally insoluble and quite durable; but unfortunately due to various wars and natural disasters, none are extant today. Despite this, there are several accounts that cite ancient works found recently. The first is of Eugenio Latillo, who, between 1838 and 1840, wrote a treatise which hinted that he owned an encaustic work from Pompeii, and mentions the evidence of the use of a cestrum and impasto effects.15 The second is of a peasant farmer who unearthed an encaustic painting, now titled “The Muse of Cortona,” in 1732 in Cortona, Italy.16 The third account relates to a “Death Portrait of Cleopatra of Egypt,” which would have been painted in honor of Augustus Caesar’s defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. This was found near Emperor Hadrian’s villa in 1818.17 There is supporting evidence that the “Muse” and “Cleopatra” are in fact ancient Roman, as they were both found at Roman sites, and were passed through several hands. It is known that Julius Caesar purchased an encaustic painting from the artist Timomakos for 80 talents18 and later bought another work, both of which were to adorn temples. A site excavated in St. Medard, France in 1895 revealed a female artist’s tools, several of which were associated with wax painting, such as cauteria, a burner, and containers of wax and resin.19 These accounts and works provide evidence that Greek traditions of encaustic painting did spread into Rome and Europe. Greco-Roman Encaustic Works in Egypt Pliny’s in-depth description of encaustic suggests that the art form continued to be a vital medium in Rome well into the first century CE. It is from the centuries that followed this that we have our first surviving examples of ancient encaustic, but they come from another region of 15

Pratt and Fizel 16. Pratt and Fizel 13. 17 When Hadrian ruled Rome in 117 B.C.E., he is said to have moved several treasures to his villa. Pratt and Fizel 15. 18 About $350,000 in 1949, when Pratt and Fizel published their book, and a sum of $3,150,000 in 2009. Samuel H Williamson, Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1790 to Present (MeasuringWorth: 2010) 10-11. 19 Victor R. Stephen, Wax—Materials, Equipments, and Techniques (Philadelphia, PA, Penn State UP, 1963) 12. 16

the Roman Empire: Egypt. While this was geographically a dramatic shift, the styles found in Egypt appear to be continuations of the Greco-Roman tradition of the previous centuries. Prior to the immigration of Hellenistic peoples, the use of wax in Egyptian funerary services does not appear to have been for artistic purposes. All of the Egyptian encaustic works that survive today and all that are mentioned in ancient writings are funerary art. Generally called Fayum portraits because the first portraits were excavated from this area in the late 1880’s, this group of works is unlike typical Egyptian art. Before Greco-Roman occupation, this application of encaustic did not exist in the region.20 Done primarily between the first and fourth centuries of the Christian era, these portraits were designed to adorn wrapped mummies and convey the likeness of the deceased into the future. Most of the Fayum portraits were done on wood and “show their subjects nearly at bust length.”21 Although some portraits were created after the death of the subject, others were made before the person died and may have served as a symbol of status in the community while he or she was still living.22 Fayum portraits come from three specific regions in Egypt, all located in the Fayum district: 1) Antinoopolis, 2) Hawara, and 3) Er-Rubayyat.23 The works can all be loosely classified based on the panel shape: most stepped panels come from Antinoopolis, rounded panels come from the Hawara region, and angled panels originated mostly in Er-Rubayyat.24 Doxiadis separates the portraits into four categories outside of their shape. Those of the first 20

However, there is some evidence to suggest that the Greeks learned of the use of beeswax for other applications, such as use as an adhesive and sealer. 21 Note that not all Fayum portraits are encaustic: some were made on cartonnages (funerary masks) of linen, plaster and stucco. David L Thompson and Haskell V. Hart, NCMA Bulletin XIV/1 (1977) 5; and Euphrosyne Doxiadis, The Mysterious Fayum Portraits: Faces from Ancient Egypt (London: Thames and Hudson, 1995) 13. 22 Doxiadis 12 and 83. 23 The Fayum region, about 60 kilometers south of Cairo and slightly west of the Nile River, was at a junction between desert and lush grounds, Doxiadis 12 and Lorelei H Corcoran, Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt (Chicago: Chicago UP, 1995) 45. 24 Corcoran 44.

category, “the highly sophisticated portraits,” are all very much based in the Greek naturalistic tradition, handed down in the Alexandrian school. The second group is characterized by a less intricate rendering of the face and expression. The third category shows portraits that are schematic and most likely not painted from life. The final group shows portraits that are dramatically less sophisticated and exhibit little artistic skill.25 The panels range in size from small to medium panels of wood or wood wrapped in linen. The panels were prepared with a thin layer of rabbit skin glue, which functioned as a sealant, and then finally painted with beeswax mixed with ground mineral pigments. After the wax paint was applied, often in an impasto-like manner, gilt garlands were applied over the person’s head, or gilt stucco frames were affixed to the panel. Unlike the Greek encaustic portraits (according to descriptions), gold leaf was added to Fayum portraits to make the mummies fit more in line with their traditional Egyptian funerary mask counterparts.26 Doxiadis contends that Christians who lived in Egypt during times of persecution set up martyria for mummified martyrs. These mummies were housed in shrines, and portraits, very similar to and quite possibly actually some of the Fayum portraits, would have been affixed to them. Escaping from persecution, the faithful would have taken the portraits with them as they fled.27 Thus the practice of painting a small, easy-to-transport eikon (Greek for icon) in Egypt may have inspired to the Byzantine icon tradition.28 Prior to Constantine’s decree, Christians might also have used encaustic painting in rituals in the catacombs under Rome.29 Pratt and Fizel also suggest a link between funerary portraiture of Egypt and the practice of icon painting: “The practice of painting and hanging the portraits anterior to death seems to have led into the painting 25

Doxiadis 83. Doxiadis 84. 27 Doxiadis 90. 28 Mathews 6. 29 Pratt and Fizel 15. 26

of icons, or images, of the saints as objects of veneration.”30 Of express concern to early Christians was the representational element of portraiture, as “rationalizing their image veneration” was imperative.31 The first literary evidence of Christian icon production, encaustic or otherwise, is found in the Acts of the Apostle John, who references an anecdote about a man, who for personal worship, kept a small image of John.32 The subject matter, medium, and portability of icons transformed these art pieces into personal, symbolic, and powerful objects. Though few encaustic icons survive today, the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mt. Sinai houses well-preserved encaustic wall paintings in addition to some encaustic icons.33 Not all of the icons found in the monastery are Christian, but clear pagan ties provide information about Egyptian influences on early Christian icon painting and style. This fact suggests that icon painters who worked in the monastery of Saint Catherine were familiar with the Fayum portraits, thus supporting the spread of encaustic from the Fayum in Egypt through the Sinai Peninsula into the monastery. A 200 CE pagan work, Suchos and Isis, depicts Egyptian gods seated on a double throne, clutching their attributes (Suchos holds a crocodile, sacred to the Nile, and Isis holds a sheaf of corn, representing her fertility).34 A telling element of the work is that the faces are encircled with gilt haloes and the physical form of the icon is very similar to later Christian icons as well as earlier Fayum portraits.35 Another work, Heron and Anonymous Military God, also of 200 CE, depicts a similar scene. Works like these created a formula for early icons, whose compositions retained elements of pagan imagery; in both of the previously mentioned works, figures are haloed and shown full-length, seated on high-backed chairs. Thomas Mathews 30

Pratt and Fizel 16. Mathews 10. 32 Thomas F Mathews, Byzantium: From Antiquity to the Renaissance (New York: Harry N. Adams, 1998) 3. 33 Margaret Perivoliotis, “Wax Resist Decoration, An Ancient Mediterranean Art,” Artciencia 2.4: (2006) 3. Web. 34 Mathews 6. 35 Though the icon was destroyed in the second World War, photographs of it remain. Mathews 6. 31

notes that the Byzantine icon represents the marriage of the pagan icon genre with “the tradition of ancient Roman painting.”36 Even the pose of Isis, the mother goddess of Egypt, on the first panel, predates portraits of the Virgin Mary but seems to define a generalized pose for her, as seen in later icons. These works, though not encaustic or explicitly Byzantine, serve as precursors to the technique and serve as evidence of the spread of Greco-Roman artistic methodology. Encaustic Icons of the Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, which flourished between the 4th century CE and the fall of Constantinople in 1453, has come to be intimately associated with icon painting. Originally rooted in the Greek classical tradition, Byzantine art followed Greek influences but split from a pagan ideology to a Christian one.37 Icons were meant to evoke personal reactions, and those reactions relied on the skill, style, and visual communication of the artists who painted the icons. These artists, many of whom were likely familiar with the Fayum portraits, may have been influenced by the realism shown in the mummy portraits as well as in the early sacred imagery of the Egyptian Christians. Therefore, the move to reactivate encaustic as a viable painting method was natural in the early Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine encaustic icons share four distinct features with portraits from the Fayum district. The first feature is that of the similarity in facial structures, the second the pose of the sitter, the third the color palette, and fourth the use of the Punic wax and salt variant formula. Greek artists imported facial expressions as well as frontal and three-quarter poses to the Fayum

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Mathews 4. Pratt and Fizel 15.

district and combined their style with that of their Egyptian hosts.38 In addition, the palette with which the Fayum portraits were painted primarily with white, yellow ochre, red, and black. This provides evidence that the two eras shared mineral pigments and color patterns.39 The formula for the paint, essentially the same as Punic wax, differs only in the addition of resinous material.40 This variation of Punic wax may have been the preferred formula in the Sinai region, as natron, a salt described by Pliny and vital to wax paint production, was particularly abundant in the Birket Quarun salt lake in the Fayum District.41 The connection between the wax formulas was most likely to the continued use of formulas already perfected by Fayum artists and brought to the monastery. One specific encaustic icon of St. Peter from the monastery upholds these ideas: St. Peter is pictured sitting in a frontal position, with his face slightly angled to the left. He is adorned with gilt additions and painted using the traditional palette. It is even described as having an “expressive and spiritual face”.42 With the spread of the Byzantine Empire, encaustic from Egypt was eventually spread into several parts of the world. Artists in the Crimea may have begun working in encaustic as early as the 4th century BCE. Paintings on a sarcophagus found at Kertch, now modern-day Ukraine, support this.43 The images on the sarcophagus are thought to be in encaustic medium. This early example of encaustic in eastern Europe can be seen as evidence of another influence on Byzantine wax painting, and may also have served as inspiration for some of the famous Russian icons, some of which were also done in encaustic. Historian A.P. Laurie’s 1935 text, The Painter’s Methods and Materials, notes that “the 38

Doxiadis 91. Doxiadis 91. 40 Freccero 68. 41 Freccero 51. 42 Jens Fleischer, John Lund, and Majatta Nielsen, Late Antiquity: Art in Context (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2001) 59. 43 Stephen 14. 39

examination of Russian icons may reveal some other early examples of wax painting in addition to the well known Egyptian ones.”44 Encaustic Revitalization in the 18th and 19th Centuries It appears that encaustic as a mode of painting fell out of fashion at the end of the 7th century. Very few icons were painted in encaustic after the iconoclastic controversy began around 726, though a post-Byzantine icon from the 17th century was reported in 1935 to be owned by a professor at the Royal Academy of Art in London.45 Interestingly, Pratt and Fizel report that “encaustic is said to have flourished…until some time between the 14th and 17th centuries,” but give no specific details about artists or works created between the 7th and 14th centuries.46 However, another source postulates that Lucas Cranach the Elder, Andrea Mantegna, and possibly even Leonardo da Vinci experimented with the medium during the Renaissance.47 Wax was most likely displaced as a paint medium by “glue-colors” and water paints and later oil paints.48 In the early 18th century, Comte de Caylus, a French antiquarian interested in Pliny’s writings on encaustic, began to experiment with the medium. Caylus hired both a chemist and an artist (Joseph-Marie Vien) to test several formulations and applications of wax medium. Vien eventually painted and exhibited Head of Minerva, a small encaustic now in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.49 Caylus wrote, “It must be allowed, that nothing can be more simple than this method, and it is thought, that this kind of painting is capable of

Stephen 20. Brooks and Pratt and Fizel 16. 46 Pratt and Fizel 12. 47 Gerald Ward, The Grove encyclopedia of materials and techniques in art (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) 192-193. 48 Pratt and Fizel 15-16. 49 Ward 192-193. 45

withstanding the injuries of the weather, and lasts longer than painting in oil.”50 Denis Diderot “condemned Caylus…and championed instead the experiments (in encaustic) of Jean-Jacques Bachelier.”51 Both agreed that “the encaustic medium would offer certain advantages” such as strength, durability, and brilliance of color. They wrote that artists would find varnishes made of wax superior to others, and that works created in encaustic would not be altered by light or heat. Rice speculates that for Caylus and Diderot, encaustic was a means to return art to the “ancient style.”52 Both had a preoccupation on perfecting the works they created, as noted by Caylus: “If you see any place defective for want of a sufficient quantity of wax, put a little finely scraped wax on the back…then bring only a red hot poker… towards it, the wax will immediately settle in its place.”53 Several other artists began to try both Caylus’ and Diderot’s methods, and artists such as Alexander Roslin and Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain exhibited encaustics in France during the late 1700’s. The idea that French painting – regularly done in oil – had become corrupt pushed these men to champion an art medium that demanded discipline and great attention to detail, and secretly, a demolition of the “painterly style” then popular. In effect, the revitalization of encaustic caused attitude shifts in the European art world that began to favor the antique style, also known as the “goût grec.”54 Encaustic began to appear in Sweden, England, Germany, and Italy.55 Jacques-Louis David, the master of the neoclassical style and student of Vien, was no doubt familiar with encaustic. He commissioned the American artist Rembrandt Peale in 1810 to 50

J.H. Muntz, Count Caylus' Method of Painting In the Manner of the Ancients (London: A. Webley, 1760) 8. Ward 192-193. 52 Rice 8. 53 Müntz 37. 54 Rice 8. 55 Specific artists who pioneered encaustic in these countries: Carl Gustaf Pilo (Sweden), George Edwards and Johann Heinrich Müntz (who worked under Horace Walpole’s supervision at Strawberry Hill and translated Caylus’ treatise into English) and John Francis Rigaud (England), Benjamin Calau and Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (Germany), and Vincenzo Requeno and Christoph Unterberger (whom Catherine the Great commissioned to paint a cabinet in encaustic) (Italy), Ward 192-193. 51

paint his portrait in oil and encaustic.56 In turn, Peale learned the technique from David’s student, Jacques Nicolas Paillot de Montabert, whom Rice gives the honor of bringing encaustic into the 19th century. In 1829, Paillot published a nine- volume treatise on painting methods, with one devoted only to encaustic. After learning from Paillot in Philadelphia in 1793 and in Paris in 1809, Peale soon “became an authority on the medium” and painted several portraits, including ones of the Marquis de Lafayette and François Gérard. In London in 1847, W. B. Sarsfield Taylor published his findings and theories on encaustic methods in A Manual of Fresco and Encaustic Painting. Artist Henry Styleman Le Strange studied the manual, and taught the American artist John La Farge the process of encaustic painting as they traveled in Belgium. La Farge began to work on decorative works in encaustic, and later painted encaustic murals at Trinity Church in Boston, beginning around 1876.57 La Farge’s commission for the murals was given under two conditions: 1) that he paint the church quickly, and 2) that he paint it as cheaply as possible. In four months, La Farge had completed the murals, several of which were done in “durable, water-resistant encaustic, consisting of wax melted with turpentine, alcohol, and Venice turpentine and applied directly to the walls.”58 Though La Farge’s medium was more of a heated wax emulsion, his paintings do represent a bridge between Peale and later American encaustic artists. With a kind of circular motion, artists in Europe encouraged a return to ancient styles while academics explored ancient encaustics. Viennese art dealer Theodore Graf and British archaeologist Flinders Petrie shared a great interest in early encaustics. Graf purchased almost one hundred Fayum portraits in 1887, and Petrie’s publications on the topic spurred great interest

Rice 9. Rice 10-11. 58 Henry Adams et al, John La Farge, (New York: Abbeville Press, 1987) 165. 57

in the subject.59 Many artists saw a deeply emotional and contemporary aesthetic in the funerary portraits, but were also able to relate to the ancient style of the medium, thus encouraging the upward spiral of encaustic. The dialogue between art and history that occurred at the turn of the 20th century fueled interest in the medium and led many artists to work with wax. Contemporary Encaustic Art: The 20th and 21st Centuries The experimentation occurring at the turn of the century led to a revolution in several artistic media. Encaustic in particular greatly benefitted from the availability and accessibility of “electrically heated equipment and commercially prepared materials.”60 Encaustic had always been a difficult and cumbersome painting material, and though several artists in its history capitalized on its complex nature, encaustic never became as popular as other painting techniques because of this. However, several artists of the 20th century, emboldened by the recent interest in ancient history and in encaustic paintings and aided by new technologies that made the method easier, found working in encaustic to be a unique experience. In 1934, a German artist named Karl Zerbe came to America, fleeing Nazi persecution. Zerbe’s art had been labeled “degenerate” by the Nazis, but at the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University, he was given his first solo show. In 1935, the artist went on to become the head of the painting department at the Boston Museum School and began to search for ways to explain “what makes a picture.” His search led him to wax, a medium that allowed him to layer paint without the long drying periods of oils, and he discovered that applying it hot onto canvas or board gave him immense flexibility.61 His experimentation eventually led him to “the right mixture: ninety percent beeswax and ten percent of sun-thickened linseed oil, heated to 225 degrees Fahrenheit” which he achieved with an electric palette and fused with blow-torches and 59

Rice 12-13. Stavitsky 1. 61 Amnon Goldmon, Karl Zerbe – Biography. Rockport: Mercury Gallery,Web, n.d. 60

hand-lamps. He demonstrated his process in a 1957 film he created and later shared with students. While Zerbe created his groundbreaking Symbolist encaustics, American modernist Arthur Dove also began to work with encaustic. In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, Dove painted several wax emulsion works. Working from Max Doerner’s 1921 book, The Materials of the Artist and their Use in Painting, Dove explored encaustic as a material for expressing his “vision of the underlying material and spiritual essence of nature.” He began to use beeswax in two ways, either dissolved with turpentine or mixed with oil paint, creating wax emulsion; because it can be applied cold this is not considered true encaustic. However, his interest in wax emulsion led him to paint with it as his principal medium during the last eleven years of his career.62 Near the end of Zerbe’s encaustic career, Jackson Pollock began to experiment with wax. In 1947, he created several works on paper that are known to be wax-resist, again not true encaustic. Pollock may have learned about wax-resist from his former teacher, Thomas Hart Benton, but may have also seen Zerbe’s film. In 1950 Pollock created two works that employed wax as a major element. Just a year before the creation of the two mysterious works, the first comprehensive book on encaustic was published by Frances Pratt and Becca Fizel. Pollock may have also received inspiration from their book, Encaustic: Materials and Methods, which documented the history of the medium from Pliny to 1949. Stavitsky notes that the book was extremely well received in the art community, and served to further fan the flames of an encaustic revitalization.63 He may also have been inspired by his friend and mentor, Antonio Ossorio who used wax-based techniques in his own work. 62 63

Stavitsky 1. Stavitsky 2.

In 1951 Ralph Mayer published a short article in Art Digest on encaustic. It defined the process, denoted supplies, and gave a brief history of the medium. Mayer noted in his first paragraph that the medium was undergoing a revival among modern painters, mostly “because its effects are so appropriate to the visual and textural aims of many modern tendencies.”64 In 1955, four years after Mayer’s article was published, Robert Knipschild showed a group of fourteen encaustic abstractions at the Alan Gallery in New York City. In the same year, Jasper Johns’ first significant encaustic painting Flag propelled him into the limelight. Easily the most recognizable American encaustic artist, Jasper Johns’ foray into encaustic seems to have begun in the early 1950’s. Prior to painting Flag, Johns destroyed many of his works from before the mid 1950’s and left only one encaustic untouched.65 That work, Star, was painted with wax and house paint in 1954. Johns experimented with different painting methods and tried to combat the slow-drying nature of his oil paints by mixing beeswax with tube paint and melting it on a hot plate. When he found that process ineffective, he secured the hot plate to a stick so that he could easily move the plate around without getting burned. Johns claims his work “had nothing to do with Zerbe,” though publications and other artists of the time (and especially Zerbe) had referenced the media. Stavitsky notes that encaustic “played a significant role in John’s fundamental change of spirit and attitude… in terms of what he has referred to as ‘a sense of becoming more independent and more focused, recognizing private strengths, doing something which was my own.” Encaustic proved to be an especially important medium for Johns, and several of his most famous works were made between 1954 and 1958, though he did

Ralph Mayer, Encaustic Painting, Art Digest 25.27 (1951) 27. Johns “methodically destroyed all the work in his possession” in 1954, the year his first encaustics appeared. Johns may have painted more prior to 1954. Michael Crichton, Jasper Johns (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994) 29. 65

use the medium well into the 1980’s.66 Working with encaustic allowed Johns the freedom to create work that hardened rapidly. It also offered him the ability to work in sections without the possibility of ruining other areas of the canvas or substrate. His work makes use of the texture of each brushstroke and the gestural qualities the wax contained. Each stroke became “distinct rather than blurred.” The factor of texture became extremely important to Johns’ work over the years, evidenced by the emphasis on the shape and qualities of the medium in his works. In addition to exploiting encaustic for its textural and painterly qualities, Johns used wax as a mask in many of his compositions. The wax’s ability to simultaneously shield and emphasize certain visual elements gave Johns the flexibility to control the amount of information viewable to the audience. Johns’ process combined layer after layer of paint, wax medium, newspaper and collage items to create a sensation evoking a personal history. After making a preliminary charcoal sketch, he would dip strips of newspaper into wax, either pigmented or clean, and adhere them to the canvas with the same medium. He would then apply strokes of wax with brushes and palette knives to create varied surfaces. Adding oil pigment and more newsprint, he could build up the surface indefinitely, hiding and obscuring certain sections as he went. Through a continual dialogue between the medium, subject, and composition, Johns was able to create a unique “amalgam of image/symbol, concept, and material.”67 In other words, this meant that he could make the wax part of the meaning, not just the vehicle for its creation. By allowing the newsprint to show through the wax veil just enough for the viewer to realize what it is but not enough to read it, Johns called attention to the medium as part of the piece.

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Stavitsky 2. Stavitsky 2.

Johns’ prominence may have inspired others, including academics, to begin to seriously consider the topic. Thelma Newman’s 1966 book Wax as Art Form and the 1972 film Painters Painting emphasized encaustic, and Victor Stephen’s masters’ thesis on encaustic was published in 1963.68 Artist Brice Marden also began working in encaustic in the 1960’s after seeing Zerbe’s film. Marden researched the Fayum portraits on his own and sought out Johns’ work as well. In 1966, he created his first encaustic work, a monochromatic painting. Marden noted: "I am never exactly sure of how much wax is added to the oil paint in the final surface, but oil remains the primary binder as opposed to encaustic where the wax is the binder.” As early as 1965, Marden began to vary his formulas by combining graphite and beeswax to create works on paper. These works were divided into two sections, with one half covered in clear wax and the other covered but scraped down and rubbed thoroughly with powdered graphite to create an opaque surface with no visual texture.69 American artist Lynda Benglis began to experiment with encaustic in the 1960’s. Aware of the encaustic works of Johns and Marden, she purchased wax from a lipstick company and mixed it with damar resin crystals and powdered pigments. Benglis appears to be the first artist to use this particular formula. Her work from 1966 to 1975 became a “landmark” group of paintings that “were soon recognized as declaring ‘a very strong female sensibility, image and process... experienced as one.’”70 Her early work in encaustic mainly consisted of wax layered into sculptural forms on masonite. Benglis’ contribution to feminism in the visual arts and her innovation in encaustic make her an undeniably vital part of the American revival of encaustic. Her work would have (and continues to have) a profound influence on the work of Martin Kline, an artist who began working in the 1980’s. 68

Stavitsky 3. Stavitsky 3. 70 Stavitsky 3. 69

The 1970’s saw a downturn in the interest in encaustic, though the medium did not become obsolete. Artist Nancy Graves created a group of encaustic paintings from 1977 to 1984. These works are little-known and under-researched due to the fact that many of them may no longer exist. She later began to overtly use wax in her sculptures. During the same period but halfway across the country, Noah Jemison also began to work in wax. Familiar with the Fayum portraits, Jemison also looked at the works of Zerbe, Dove, and Johns for inspiration; in 1971, he created his first encaustic painting. Jemison still works in encaustic, drawing upon his AfricanAmerican heritage and love of jazz to create large-scale works characterized by organic lines and heavy layering of wax. His 1973 move to Brooklyn, New York served to spread the influence of encaustic, and reignite New York as a center for the medium.71 Encaustic supplies became more commercialized and accessible in the 1980’s and 1990’s, perhaps leading to an interesting debate about the high-art versus low-art nature of the medium today. Interest in the medium grew rapidly as exhibitions included more encaustics and as literature on the technique became more widespread. The 1990’s saw an increase in encaustic exhibitions, including shows at New York’s Tibor De Nagy Gallery, the Palo Alto Cultural Center, the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, and the Montclair Art Museum. When Gail Stavitsky began organizing her exhibition entitled Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America at the Montclair Art Museum, she received over two hundred submissions.72 Several artists included in the show challenged the still-young norms of encaustic painting, even in the mid to late 20th-century, by working with new substrates, pigments, and techniques. Twenty years after Benglis began using wax, Martin Kline began working in similar styles. He draws, paints, and sculpts with encaustic medium to create heavily textured, built-up 71 72

Stavitsky 3. Stavitsky 4.

surfaces that can rise several inches off the base, in a style that is strikingly similar to the works of Benglis. Artists have also challenged the idea of working small, or large with collage as support: Tony Scherman’s large scale portraits use a painterly style to present a textural, layered approach to figural story telling. Byron Kim, a Korean-American artist, notes that encaustic is “long-lasting yet so fragile...like the human body in some ways.” Kim’s work pushes the boundary between painting and sculpture, as his process of pouring wax medium into a rubber “sheath” allows the medium to pucker in “a rotund, belly-like manner”. Many have now branched out into three-dimensional work: of note are Sylvia Netzer’s wax-on-ceramic works, which possess an organic, sculptural quality that allows even heavy materials to seem almost weightless. In addition to newer encaustic artists, others discussed earlier, such as Johns and Jemison, still work in encaustic but have adapted their styles as current issues change and impact their lives. Topics such as sexuality, AIDS, sexism, the human body, and social injustice provide rich material for encaustic painters already familiar with the layering effects of the medium.73 As alluded to earlier, there exists a sort of break between high art encaustic artists and “hobbyist” encaustic artists. In my research, I discovered several possible reasons for its occurrence. The cyclical motion that has occurred throughout the history of encaustic is present yet again in the cycle of learning, understanding, and producing encaustic art. While many opportunities have been created so that current encaustic artists can support and learn from one another, some other artists whose work has already been well received in galleries tend to distance themselves from what many consider “hobbyist” artists. These hobbyist artists can learn from the multitude of videos online, basic wax art books on the shelf, and the classes offered by community centers in response to the explosion in popularity. This “easy access” may cause resentment in the art 73

Stavitsky 5-6.

community, as some artists, whose artistic caliber may not be as high as that of others, attempt to join ranks with accomplished encaustic artists. This research has led me to explore the nature of encaustic in Southeast America, where Meredith College is located, with the hope that understanding the art form in this area would form the basis for an exhibition at the college.

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Part II: The History of the Technique of Encaustic

Ancient Techniques: Greek/Egyptian In my research into the technical styles and creation of Greek-era encaustics, I found that there is very little literature on the subject. Pliny notes that Punic wax was used for ship painting, but beyond that term, there is no evidence to suggest any particular recipe or formula.74 There are several accounts that describe Punic wax as yellow beeswax left in the sun, boiled with sea water and potassium carbonate, and melted.75 In my attempt to replicate the process and the outcome of the first method of Greek encaustic, I created a basic wax emulsion following the wax formula laid out by Pratt and Fizel. While I did not create any work after an ancient work, I did experiment with painting the solution onto wood, incorporating colors, and using modern tools that resemble the cestrum, rhabdion, and cauteria (pottery tools with pointed, curved, and flat ends, and a table-top griddle). When melted completely, the wax, salt, and water mixture mixed fully. However, when dry, salt crystals formed on the hardened wax and, when melted, the salt did not fully mix in again. I did not find this wax mixture particularly easy to work with, paint on, or fuse. The Punic wax method, and therefore most of Greek encaustic technique, lends itself to ganosis, much more so than it does mural painting. This conclusion leads me to believe that perhaps the painting method for murals described by the Greeks only included yellow beeswax and pigment, as this formula runs much smoother and cleaner, while for ganosis they used Punic wax. It is ganosis that was illustrated on the krater owned by the Metropolitan, and this process of encaustic work was probably the most used Greek wax method. The works that Julius Caesar 74 75

Freccero 7. Rice 6.

bought were most likely purchased in the peak of the encaustic fashion, and the technique may have declined after this time. Recreating three of the Fayum portraits with modern materials posed the question of true authenticity and integrity: as it would not have been feasible at this time to travel to Egypt and collect the natron salt referenced earlier, my formula of Punic wax differed from the original. I also did not have the ground mineral pigments at my disposal, and therefore had to substitute dry oil pigment sticks. However, the substrate I used was essentially the same – basic wood panels and linen-covered panels functioned as the most-used substrates for the Fayum portraits. The works that I studied in order to understand the technical construction and creation of a Fayum portrait were representative of the three regions mentioned earlier: Antinoopolis, ErRubayyat, and Hawara. I chose A man, c. 25-75 (encaustic on linen), ‘Eutyches, freedman of Kasianos’. c. 193-211 (on wood), and A woman, c. 138-161 (on wood) to review in preparation for recreating Fayum-style works. I modeled my first work, a small panel depicting an older man, on the panel shape and style of the Antinoopolis panel. This gave me a stepped-style wood substrate to work with, and I was also able to paint the man using a similar, impasto-style technique as seen with A Man. My second work, modeled after the Er-Rubayyat style cropped panel, depicts a younger boy in a clearer, less clouded light. I struggled with this technique, and my image does not posses the clarity of the work on which I modeled it; I say that it is clearer and less clouded than the first because the first style of panel required the application of a layer of clear wax over the polished painting, whereas this does not. I modeled my last reproduction on A woman, representative of the Hawara-region style panel. This panel was covered in linen before I painted on it, and the shape is rectangular with an arched top. This style of panel also has an impasto look to it, and it appears hazy because over time, beeswax builds up a sort of dust

on the top layer that must be wiped away to clearly see the image. The woman pictured possesses the gilt additions discussed earlier, and she was most likely painted while living, as her warm complexion and attentive, intense gaze seems drawn from life. To prepare the wax formula, I used the same process as for the Greek method, with the exception of the addition of linseed oil. The wax solution spread more easily and re-melted better with the oil addition, and pigments mixed into the solution at a much better consistency than with the Greek Punic wax method. As noted, I used dry oil pigment sticks, also referred to as oil pastels, to stand in for ground mineral pigments. To further mimic the properties of the original Egyptian minerals (which, though the encaustic process discussed here was not a nativelyEgyptian one, the minerals artists would have used were the same as those that Egyptian artists used for wall paintings) I cut the oil pastels with a razor and ground them into a fine powder. When the wax/salt/oil solution had fully melted, I combined small amounts of the powder with it in small metal tins. Before painting the wax onto the substrate, I prepared the wood and linen with a coat of gesso, which mimicked the use of animal glue sizing used by Fayum artists. I then sketched out the portrait and painted an undercoat of unpigmented wax. In keeping with the method described in literature, I used natural bristle brushes to paint on layers of color and I mixed colors with a heated metal tool. I also attempted the wax emulsion method, a technique employed both in Greek encaustic work and in the Fayum portraits. Wax emulsion does not require the use of heat, instead, pigments are mixed in with Punic wax while the wax is cool. I found that the wax emulsion method was difficult to reproduce and was not easy to use when I wanted crisp details, so I returned to the hot wax painting. On the whole, I believe I achieved similar likenesses to those that I studied. However, as I have noted, it was difficult, and I was not capable of reaching the same realism that the Fayum

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artists managed to reach. Painting with wax adulterated with oil was a better process than painting with Punic wax for my experiments with the Greek method. Byzantine In recreating a Byzantine encaustic icon, I studied Icon with St. Peter, an encaustic icon from the mid 7th century AD. Using the same Punic wax formula, now tempered with Damar resin (a tree resin used to harden the wax – this resin or another tree resin may have been used during Byzantine times), I mixed dry pigments (here ‘dry pigments’ refers to crushed oil pastels that mimic the consistency of mineral pigments) with yellow beeswax. In keeping with the typical tonal palette of the time, I limited my color choices to browns, white, tans, and blues. To create the icon, I first painted a gesso on a hardwood panel to simulate skin glue that would have been used to seal and prepare the board. In several cases, Byzantine icons were first prepared with glue and then a layer of fabric. However, Icon with St. Peter was painted without a fabric layer, so my recreation followed suit. After painting the gesso on, I drew the form of the figure with a graphite pencil. Using long brushstrokes, I proceeded to paint layers of wax and pigment into specific areas of the painting. I occasionally stopped to incise areas such as the hair and the face with a cestrum in order to provide greater clarity of line and description. Modern To recreate works for the Modern period, I consulted images of the chosen works, several books that included encaustic formulas and techniques, and artist Mary Farmer. The works I chose to recreate were Jasper John’s Green Target, created in 1955, Martin Kline’s Doppelgänger of 2006, and Mary Farmer’s Untitled of 2010. I consulted Ann Baldwin’s book, Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed-Media Artists: Experimental Techniques for Composition, Layering, Texture, Imagery, and Encaustic, and Patricia Seggebruch’s book, Encaustic

Workshop: Artistic Techniques for Working with Wax, to understand how contemporary encaustic artists might work. I also formulated my encaustic medium based on Gottsegen’s formula of unrefined beeswax, turpentine, and damar resin.76 My final formula used 8 parts beeswax to two parts damar with about a teaspoon of turpentine added to strengthen the resin. I used tube oil paints as color agents for all of the modern/contemporary works. In order to create varying colors, I first melted the wax and transferred it to an aluminum baking dish. I then melted the damar on medium heat to avoid excessive fumes.77 I then poured the half-pound of melted resin, which is sold in loose crystallized chunks and has a waxy, white-yellow appearance, into a separate aluminum dish and began to combine the wax and resin over the hotplate. I then poured the mixture into a third dish and allowed it to harden completely. This can be quickened by leaving the dish in the freezer for about thirty minutes. I should note that the process I described is one I learned from artist Mary Farmer while visiting her in her studio in Asheville, North Carolina. Once I had the damar/wax mixture hardened and ready to use, I broke off pieces of it to melt and combine with oil paints. I used this method to paint all of the modern works. Since many of the works made use of varied textures, I also used incising tools, scraping tools, razors, varied brush sizes, and a heat torch.

Mark David Gottsegen, The Painter’s Handbook (New York: Watson Guptill, 2006) 234. It should be noted here that when working with wax for all of the pieces I wore a paper ventilation mask and took frequent breaks to avoid inhaling fumes. Fumes can be toxic in high concentrations. 77

Part III: Encaustic in 2012 The history of encaustic painting, though varied and rich, has been plagued with several “hiccups” along its timeline. Periods of dormancy dot the encaustic landscape, leaving artists with license to work in other media; however, those same periods of dormancy have produced the terrain of contemporary encaustic. Reviewing the landscape of the medium in the second decade of the 21st century will produce a more full picture of encaustic’s placement in the art world and in the repertoires of the artists who have and continue to use it. Having already reviewed the history of the medium and the techniques associated with it, we have reached a point where commentary on the status of encaustic is an appropriate addition to the field. It is vital to discuss the burgeoning field from a critical standpoint, in order that progress in encaustic research may be made. Several important developments of the last decade have distinctly impacted the field of encaustic, one being the creation of the International Encaustic Conference (IEC). Now entering its seventh year, the IEC is host to hundreds of encaustic artists from around the United States as well as the world. Dozens of workshops are taught during the conference, and the IEC hopes to enhance the perception of encaustic art through its presenters: You can't raise the bar without professionals who are well trained and art-world experienced. Our presenters are teaching at the university level; they are entrepreneurs who teach out of their studios; they travel widely to teach, lecture and show at various venues; they are museum exhibited and collected; they are grant recipients, authors, critics, curators, and gallerists. Many of our artists wear multiple hats. In all ways they are role models not only for how they execute

technique, but for how they contribute to the contemporary discourse and how they carry themselves in their careers.78 The second factor that has impacted the perception of the technique is the wide dissemination of encaustic workshops. Such workshops are taught across the country, and dozens of exhibitions dedicated to the medium have been produced in part because of them. However, the workshops are not always taught by highly trained encaustic artists. This phenomenon causes some of the negative perceptions in the art world about encaustic: that it is not good art (because it is brittle, poorly made, too delicate, etc) or that one encaustic artist is the same as all the others (gallerists often complain that they’ve seen them all). Perhaps one reason for these claims is that the thousands of participants that likely attend these classes create several pieces each of technical art, in what is often a similar style. Technical art, works created as a learning device and not as a work of original thought, cannot be considered true art, even within the lenient definitions of visual culture definitions of society today. One must consider the same kinds of classes with other media: watercolor, oil, etc. These classes offer budding artists, students, and others solely interested in having something to do (a valid reason for taking a class of any kind) a structured environment in which to learn a particular skill. However, such classes do not generally teach the creativity, thought processes, and originality required to make high art. Considering the works created from these classes will conjure images of multiples: each class participant will emerge with several miniature wax-covered boards, each representing a few of the techniques learned. This is indeed a valid way to learn, and taking an encaustic class by no means bars someone from entry into the art world as an artist. A second reason for this negative view of encaustic is 78

Joanne Mattera, "Presenter Bios," Encaustic Conference. International Encaustic Conference, n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2012. <http://www.encausticconference.blogspot.com/2012/08/coming-soon-presenter-bios.html>.

that short workshops often do not and cannot teach proper mixing, hardening, and safety techniques. Poorly created encaustic that is too brittle or otherwise unstable is certainly going to give a gallerist a negative opinion of the medium. In addition, if many artists whose work stemmed from workshops, where similar styles were defined and creative application was not emphasized, approach galleries looking for representation, the art world could clearly become fatigued with encaustic. Let us briefly return to the issue of technical art as we look at perceptions of encaustic. Art made in the late 20th and first two decades of the 21st centuries, under the wing of contemporary art, visual studies, and pop culture, walks a very thin line between fine art and craft. It is important to note distinctions between the two, or at least to attempt to define differences between “teaching art” and “real art.” That is to say that there is a difference between work made in the setting of a workshop, where the intention was not to create original, thoughtdriven pieces but to produce technical pieces to hone skills. This phenomena has contributed to the burgeoning popularity of the medium and, in effect, has saturated the field. We will also examine other potential causes of the upswing in popularity, such as Jasper Johns’ work, companies who specialize in encaustic materials, and historical examples of fascination with the medium. This discussion hinges on the traditional notion of high and low art and the wearing down of that notion as it relates to encaustic art, and thus the state of encaustic in the contemporary art world. Judgments about good art and bad art are often created in the art world as opposed to beyond art’s borders. These are qualitative judgments that gallerists, artists, and art historians make based on the art they have been exposed to. This behavior can often injure the reputation of an artist or an entire medium. Take, for example, this Seattle blogger’s post about encaustic:

Encaustic is melting all over Seattle. It has been forming pools in nearly every art gallery recently and spreading. Medias like that have a way of infiltrating ever corner of this city's art scene: it seems that if one artist does it, someone else has to 'one up' them until it is in everyone's repertoire. But artists, please heed my warning. Bad encaustic is certainly the majority out in the scene. A friend once said that he thought most encaustic was the result of an artist trying to make a piece they fucked up somewhat acceptable, it forms a mask over a pile of shit. I would absolutely agree. Generally it is messy, unintentional (not in a good way), and trying too hard all at the same time. It should never be used as decoupage. This media can be an amazing addition to many forms of visual art, but not everyone can be good at everything.79 Clearly, this blogger is quite put off by the majority of the encaustic art around him, and the remainder of his post noted that few artists use the medium well. His discussion of artists using encaustic as an add on (“decoupage”) and not as an intentionally chosen medium with which to further a concept is perhaps an often-heard complaint about encaustic art in the field. It seems too much like the work of another artist; it isn’t well constructed. The notion of good/bad, high/low applies to all media, but those whose histories are undergoing transition periods are most susceptible to criticism. I posit that at this point in the history of encaustic, the medium is seen as a bother to deal with, one that artists can easily work with unsuccessfully, and one in which there appears to be little stylistic variation. Of course, many artists and gallery owners will refute this, and for this reason, I sought the opinions of three artists whose work appeared in Wax 79

Culture Herd, "Drowning in a Sea of Wax,"CultureHerd. N.p., 14 2011. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. <http://www.cultureherd.com/press/03/14/2011/drowning-in-a-sea-of-wax/?3e3ea140>.

Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast: Tom Grubb, Mary Farmer, and Reni Gower. Below is the transcript of my interviews: KG: What drew you to use encaustic? Tom Grubb: I had been exploring my work in Star Charts – water and parchment and bamboo and then wax – is such a material that’s very attractive to use and manipulate. Wax afforded me the ability to use the melting, applying, and working – almost like molten metal. I guess it is the physicality about it that attracted me to it – also the beauty of it. Mary Farmer: The change from oil to encaustic was about depth from the wax. In oil painting – I had been making a lot of glazes. I like the textural quality. I used to do that with oil as well. When I discovered the wax, I discovered I couldn’t quite get the depth with oil. There were few challenges left in oil, so I embarked on the process and journey to fill the void – sticks and dirt, trying to figure out what it was going to take. My professor asked me to try it – few people were doing it then. I struggled a bit at the shift - I didn’t immediately fall in love. That’s over now, I’m in love! I’ve been working in encaustic for about 15 years now. Reni Gower: It goes back almost 30 years when I was in graduate school – I was introduced to it by one of the TAs. It really appealed to me because of its physicality. I love texture – and to work from scratch. I’ve always liked making my own paint. It really seduced me in right at the beginning. I never use it just exclusively as my own medium. Over the years I do different projects with it, and with more student interest, I’m building out my expertise. KG: Do you feel that encaustic furthers your concept or meaning when you create art?

TG: Yes – you know, my art is very biographical of where I’ve been and what I’ve done, and wax and the encaustic method dates back to being used on ships at sea – and then it became a decorative element. I thought it was a natural material to use for the nautical theme. MF: I like to be careful to not pigeonhole myself – my paintings are very multimedia. So yes, to a point. Building up the layers is very important but I go back in dig in, work on the surface. I think it is one tool in an arsenal. Sometimes there is this cult of encaustic painting, and I try to avoid that. There is a physical thing of painting – it takes a whole lot more physically. There is a release of energy. It come from your head and goes into your shoulders and heart and out from your hands. The work is changed by the way you physically move the wax. RG: I don’t think it does any more than the other media that I use. It’s just so versatile that it lends itself to the layering I like to do. My other work is more material through collage. It’s just different, I don’t think it actually changes what I’m thinking about. I’m not married to just one material. Sometimes I just like to change it up. Encaustic is pretty easy to work pretty quickly. Sometimes it’s nice to switch it up. KG: What can you say about the state of encaustic today in the art world? Do you feel that encaustic is valued, overused, or undervalued? TG: I think it’s – you don’t see very much around. Not in my travels. In that sense, a lot of people are not perhaps familiar with it. Also, I think each artist that deals with it – they’re experimenting. Artists need to experiment. It seems like in the encaustic field – the experiments, the lab, the pushing

the limits is what is exciting. Not overused, in fact it might be underutilized. I love experimenting with it just because there is so much you can do. MF: I think for one thing the sooner encaustic becomes part of regular painting the better. It is becoming mainstream though. Galleries will say “Oh, well we have an encaustic painter, so no thanks.” It’s part of the education – training people to do it and to think about it. RG: I think it is going gang busters really – people have really discovered it. There is so much more available in the last 20 years – information, work, etc. However, it is lagging in the academic areas. I think the upward rise will continue, but it is clear that it isn’t being taught outside the workshop situation. Everything is so focused on the new, and a lot of funding goes to that. Some of the older processes – still very appealing – are sometimes lagging in terms of investing in new infrastructure. I think at VCU one of our strengths is having slow art and fast art. I think it’s only gonna get better. I think you’re going to see more. I don’t think it’s gonna go away. The practitioners are going to get better. Bad art is not unique to encaustic – you can find it anywhere. KG: Do you believe that encaustic as a medium has more popularity (seemingly) in workshops and community centers? Why? TG: In the art world, everyone rediscovers something that was ancient. I think workshops are so good because that’s how you teach the method, the foundation, what encaustic really is. Some people may not go into it because they don’t know how to heat it, how to apply it, what tools, etc. you don’t just go into a craft store and pick out paints and brushes. They have to know about the method. The complexity of applying encaustic into your work lends itself to a workshop type education. I think when one stages an exhibition, it’s good to have the

different types of methods – that’s what I liked about Wax Foundations.80 MF: I’m not sure popularity is the right word – it is not an intuitive way to paint. Handling it is very different. To have someone guide you through the first bit of how you handle the paint is very important. I teach how to handle, not how to paint or what to paint. I want them to bring their stuff, but I know there is a real difficulty in learning. Sometimes people have had a class, then they have worked for six months and then try to teach a class. It needs to become just another way to paint, but it’s one of many, there is something special about it, but it’s been around and will be around. We have to treat it the same. It’s a mistake to separate it out. One other thing – this medium does seem to be dominated by women. 81 RG: It’s like a little mysterious a technique – creates interest. There is a limit in terms of who you’re going to attract. If you have someone who can teach it with the right concerns for the ventilation, it makes sense to offer workshops. There is a whole range – some are highly trained and some are less than trained. Look into background of teacher. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Again, people have a taste for art and want to learn – and then they can see the range of what it can do. Trying to make it sounds unique – encaustic doesn’t have to work hard. I look at it just as another material, another way to make a painting.82

Tom Grubb, Telephone Interview, 28 Nov. 2012. Mary Farmer, Telephone Interview, 28 Nov. 2012. 82 Reni Gower, Telephone Interview, 28 Nov. 2012. 81

These interviews beg the question: What makes encaustic today? Through conversation with these and other artists, the answer becomes rapidly less clear, rather than solidifying into one definition. Is it just wax, or wax and pigment? How do ceramicists and fiber artists use the term and mediate the effects of encaustic encroaching into their work? Does one need to use the medium as an integral part of the concept? Traditionally, the definition of encaustic has not been limited by substrate, but by recipe: several recipes can be found in history, including the Greek saponified wax, the RomanEgyptian salt, wax, pigment mixture, Count Caylus’ method, and the modern damar resin-wax mixture. These recipes for paint could be applied cold (a wax emulsion) but are not considered encaustic: what made the application of the mixture truly encaustic was the act of heating the recipe to a melted state, and applying the paint while still hot and fluid. However, though recipes vary and application methods have changed, the two common denominators are the use of wax as the base (typically beeswax, though other kinds of wax have been used as of late) and inclusion of some kind of pigment, either oilbased or mineral powder. How important is the basic recipe in the definition of encaustic? How important is the application method? Other media can be included in these works outside of the mixed encaustic paint and can therefore change the end composition of the work; for example, oil used with other paints (acrylic, shellac) would be called a mixed-media painting, not an oil painting. A work that includes watercolor and collagraph prints would also be a mixed-media piece. Would the same formula apply for encaustic? Is it more honest to call multi-media works that include wax, “mixedmedia”? These questions, of course ultimately unanswerable by one discussion, prompt me to think about how encaustic art has changed in the last two years. However, even

thinking in terms of the last two decades prompts one to think about the history of the medium again: from ship sealing to krater decoration to wall painting to canvas and board and even ceramic and sculptural application, encaustic has never been a medium of one type of application. Therefore, I argue that the popularity of encaustic has drawn and induced artists to use the term “encaustic” even if their art is not entirely encaustic; the terminology that best suits work created with materials in addition to encaustic is “mixedmedia.” This designation allows for a broader understanding of multi-media works of art, and a more pure understanding of encaustic as paint created from wax melted with resin and pigment. Though the application certainly does not change the medium, the end result of the type of art is changed by the medium as it is mixed with other media. The discussion of the creation of encaustic work necessitates a dialogue of how to curate such work. As with all curatorial endeavors, collecting work to show in an exhibition is directed by a precise idea about the goals of that exhibition. There is perhaps no right or wrong way to curate any exhibition; the creativity granted to a curator is almost as great as the license granted to the artist. However, when discussing curation that intentionally seeks to find work within a certain set of boundaries, such as ‘encaustic work’, one must consider restraints on that chosen idea. We can take Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast as an example. When I sought to curate this exhibition, my limiting factor, or boundary, was to find work that was created with traditional encaustic paint. I did not choose to limit my selection to works that only used encaustic paint, and in doing so, I included several works that also made use of collage, fibers, and watercolor techniques. I might just as easily refused to include works that made use of other media besides encaustic, yet, in today’s encaustic art climate, doing so would have discounted a

great deal of valuable and interesting work. The curatorial challenge of finding what one wants and sticking to the boundaries one has defined leads us to another question: when curating an exhibition of encaustic art, are there any guidelines one must follow, and if so, what are they? During my first curatorial experience, I found that organizing a show of encaustic works did present some challenges, but perhaps not more than any other media might. I did find that it was useful to thoroughly review each artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resume, website, and submissions to check for soundness of technique as well as artistic development. As discussed earlier, the proliferation of encaustic through workshops has made the medium more accessible, and unfortunately, easier for inexperienced artists to manipulate. I wanted to include works that would physically stand up to being hung in a show, would not break, were not brittle, and would not appear to be technical art. Another consideration I wrestled with was the question of the motive of the artist. Was it important to me to choose artists who intentionally worked with encaustic to further their concept? In this case, it was. Here is where I might differ in my curatorial pursuits from others: I find the motive of the artist to be as important as the work he or she ships to the gallery. I find that in my personal viewing of art, I am less enthralled by works whose creators did not think critically about their chosen medium. I enjoy seeing work that has been mulled over before its creation. I can argue that even artists who did not think first, work second still interest me with their subconscious choice of media. Therefore, with my exhibition, I found it pertinent to try to get as much information about the ideas of the artist while I selected works for the exhibition. Though, for some curators and artists, the intentionality of the choice is not as vital. As the Weems Gallery is attached to Meredith College and set in an educational landscape, I wanted to curate work and artists who

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thought about their art and made conscious choices to develop both concept and material. For me, linking the educational possibilities to the curation of the exhibition was first and foremost on my agenda. These two considerations are the only special ones I made, outside of general curatorial duties. However, I do want to stress that these considerations likely do not differ from those associated with exhibitions of other media. My experience in curating encaustic therefore revolves around ideas about technical skill and intentionality, and I find these two concerns to be of high importance for anyone curating encaustic. Just as creation necessitates curation, curation of work necessitates a discussion of the trajectory of a medium. Much of this thesis has been devoted to thoroughly understanding the history and climate of encaustic art, and I feel that a historical knowledge of this medium is vital to teaching about it, be it art historically or technically. The history that precedes encaustic as we know it today is a rich, varied one, and one that has specifically impacted the medium’s status in the art world today. In 2010, Christie’s auctioned off Michael Crichton’s Jasper Johns’ 1966 Flag painting for $28.6 million dollars, setting “a record for the artist at auction but (falling) far short of prices achieved for Johns' works privately, reported to exceed $100 million.”83 Auctions of works such as Flag offer a little insight into the valuation of a certain artist and medium, thought it would be quite far-fetched to believe that encaustic is a particularly valuable medium in and of itself. The standing of artists, like Jasper Johns, who use encaustic is often relative to their gallery representation and fame, the consumer behavior in the world of art 83

Jori Finkel, "Jasper Johns' "Flag" brings record price at auction of Michael Crichton's estate," Los Angeles Times, 11 2010: n. page. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/05/jasper-johns-flag-brings-record-price-at-auctionof-michael-crichtons-estate.html>.

collecting, as well as several other factors. As encaustic stands now, I would not place any special value on it over any other medium. However, I would note that the popularity of encaustic classes and workshops that I have observed just in the North Carolina Triangle area does add to a certain degree of change for the medium. To best understand the trajectory of the medium, more research than could have been done within the bounds of this thesis would need to be completed. I believe a survey of community art centers, galleries, and other art teaching institutions would provide useful data from across the country on the number of encaustic classes taught, the level of experience of the teacher, and the number of attendees at the classes. Combined with data that might be gleaned from the International Encaustic Conference, such as information on how many exhibitions encaustic artists participate in, what climate these artists are experiencing in galleries, and what responses the public is giving to encaustic art, one might be able to begin to piece together a picture of how the history of encaustic has influenced its trajectory today. Another source of good information might be a survey of art schools and college/university art programs. Such a survey could gather information about if and how encaustic is being taught, if it is being taught to much success, and if proper safety considerations are being made. These surveys would not be difficult to design or use, but the difficulty lies in getting them disseminated to the right institutions. On a broader scale, such information would need to be viewed in context with similar information about other media. Giving context to encaustic will allow encaustic to been viewed as simply a type of painting, rather than a special technique â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perhaps giving it the status it needs, as Mary Farmer suggested. This research could certainly benefit from such data,

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and the study of encaustic as a whole could benefit from a broad-stroke understanding of current teaching methods and professionalism. The contemporary state of encaustic is unique from other media in several ways: first, it is one of the oldest continuously pursued paint mixtures; second, it has specific challenges only associated with the materials it uses; and third, its history clearly impacts it, though it is difficult to discern exactly how. In this discussion, I have covered the perception of encaustic and issues surrounding its perception, the prevalence of workshops and technical art, high and low art ideas, artist perceptions of the medium, the definition of encaustic, curation of the medium, the trajectory of and further research that could assist the field. I have chosen not to delve into several other possible topics, such as teaching methods at the workshop and university level, gallerist perspectives, safety concerns, and a deeper look into the value of encaustic in the art world today. These topics warrant their own discussion and would indeed augment this one. It is my hope that scholarly conversation around encaustic will continue and flourish, and that this research and commentary will be a valuable asset to that conversation.

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Works Cited Adams, Henry, Kathleen A. Foster, Henry A. La Farge, H. Barbara Weinberg, and Linnea H. Wren, James L. Yarnall. John La Farge. 1. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. Print. Blackie, JS. "Homer and the Iliad (tr. in verse, with notes)."Archive.org. Tufts. Web. 10 Oct 2011. <http://www.archive.org/stream/homerandiliadtr01homegoog/homerandiliadtr01h omegoog_djvu.txt>. Bostock, John. "Pliny the Elder, The Natural History.” Perseus - Tufts. Tufts. Web. 5 Oct 2011. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book= 35:chapter=39>. Brooks, Sarah. "Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d. Web. 29 Dec 2011. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/icon/hd_icon.htm>. Corcoran, Lorelei H. Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt (I-IV Centuries AD). The Oriental Institute. Chicago: UP Chicago, 1995. Print. Crichton, Michael. Jasper Johns. 2. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1994. Print. Culture Herd. "Drowning in a Sea of Wax."CultureHerd. N.p., 14 2011. Web. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. <http://www.cultureherd.com/press/03/14/2011/drowning-in-a-sea-ofwax/?3e3ea140>. Doxiadis, Euphrosyne. The Mysterious Fayum Portraits: Faces from Ancient Egypt. Great Britain: Thames and Hudson, 1995. Print.

Farmer, Mary. Telephone Interview. 28 Nov. 2012. Finkel, Jori. "Jasper Johns' "Flag" brings record price at auction of Michael Crichton's estate." Los Angeles Times. 11 2010: n. page. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/05/jasper-johns-flagbrings-record-price-at-auction-of-michael-crichtons-estate.html>. Freccero, Agneta. Encausto and Ganosis: Beeswax as Paint and Coating during the Roman Era and its Applicability in Modern Art, Craft, and Conservation. Sweden: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 2002. Print. Fleischer, Jens, John Lund, and Majatta Nielsen. Late Antiquity: Art in Context. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 200. 59. 2001. Print. Goldman, Amnon (Director). "Karl Zerbe - Biography." Mercury Gallery. Mercury Gallery, Rockport, n.d. Web. 3 Jan 2011. <http://www.mercurygallery.com/KarlZerbeBio.html>. Gottsegen, Mark David. The Painter’s Handbook. New York: Watson Guptill, 2006. 234. Print. Gower, Reni. Telephone Interview. 28 Nov. 2012. Grubb, Tom. Telephone Interview. 28 Nov. 2012. Mathews, Thomas F. Byzantium: From Antiquity to the Renaissance. New York, New York: Harry N. Adams, 1998. Print. Mattera, Joane. The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax. New York: Watson-Guptill. 2001. Print. Mattera, Joanne. "Presenter Bios." Encaustic Conference. International Encaustic

Conference, n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2012. <http://www.encausticconference.blogspot.com/2012/08/coming-soon-presenterbios.html>. Mayer, Ralph. "Encaustic Painting." Art Digest. 25.27 (1951): 27. Print. Müntz, J.H. Encaustic: or, Count Caylus' Method of Painting In the Manner of the Ancients. London: A. Webley, 1760. 8-37. Print. Perivoliotis, Margaret. "Wax Resist Decoration, An Ancient Mediterranean Art." Artciencia 2.4 (2006): 1-15. Web. 9 Oct 2010. <http://www.artciencia.com/Admin/Ficheiros/MARGARET265.pdf>. Pratt, Frances and Becca Fizel. Encaustic Materials and Methods. New York: Lear, 1949. Print. Rice, Danielle. "Encaustic Painting Revivals." Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America. New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1999. Print. Stavitsky, Gail. Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America. New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1999. Print. Stephen, Victor R. “Wax—Materials, Equipments, and Techniques.” Thesis Pennsylvania State U, 1963. Thesis. Print. Thompson, David L. and Haskell V. Hart. NCMA Bulletin. XIV.1, 1977. Print. Ward, Gerald W.R. The Grove encyclopedia of materials and techniques in art . 1. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Williamson, Samuel H. "Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1790 to Present," MeasuringWorth, 2010. http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare.com/

Appendix A: Jasper Johns: Encaustic Influences (SECAC Undergraduate Research Session, Friday, Oct. 20, 2012) (SNCURCS Art History Session, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012) Easily the most recognizable American encaustic artist, Jasper Johns’ foray into encaustic seems to have begun in the early 1950’s. His transition into the field, however, was highly dependent on activities in the medium during the previous two decades. Looking at the history behind this painting, one perhaps instantaneously recognizable by many, will reveal for us collisions in Johns’ past and in his work that have allowed for the popular attention he has received. The artists that preceded Johns, and would eventually have a profound impact on his work, will allow us to fully examine him within the broader context of the medium in America. Johns’ positioning in the history of encaustic will form the basis of this presentation. To many, he represents the epitome of encaustic in America, but it is important to understand John’s standing as an artist and how that catapulted him to fame. Just prior to 1955, Johns destroyed many of his works from before the mid 1950’s and left only one encaustic untouched.84 That work, Star, was painted with wax and house paint in 1954. At that time, Johns began to experiment with different painting methods and tried to combat the slow-drying nature of his oil paints by mixing beeswax with tube paint and melting it on a hot plate. Johns claims his work “had nothing to do with” other artists, though as we will see, publications and artists of the time had referenced the media extensively. This point here is something I would like to examine: due to the attention received by the artists and media we will discuss, I find it hard to agree that Johns wasn’t influenced by any of it. Flag, the 1955 painting Kirk Varnedoe 84

Johns “methodically destroyed all the work in his possession” in 1954, the year his first encaustics appeared. Johns may have painted more prior to 1954. Michael Crichton, Jasper Johns (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994) 29.

calls “his breakthrough painting,” is the Johnsian emblem through which we can see the origins of his sign language.85 Curiously, Flag will also show us themes that Johns will pursue throughout his entire career, themes that will continually appear, even in his more mature work. We must also review the history that led to the style we are so familiar with today. A condensed timeline shows, in effect, the relationships formed between artists and writers in the thirty years that paved the way for Johns’ switch to encaustic in the early 50s. Though there were other American artists who worked with encaustic before Johns, they are often overshadowed by his popularity and the mystique that surrounds his personality. Such artists as Rembrandt Peale and John LaFarge worked in encaustic in the 18th and 19th centuries, but it was not until the late 1930s that anyone truly received any recognition for encaustic work. In 1934, German artist Karl Zerbe began to work in America. Zerbe’s work led him to wax, a medium that allowed him to layer paint without the long drying periods of oils, and he discovered that applying it hot onto canvas or board gave him immense flexibility. Nearly two decades later in 1954, he would create the first film on encaustic technique, a film that would have a wide distribution across America.86 While Zerbe created his Symbolist encaustics, another American artist began to experiment with encaustic. Modernist Arthur Dove, in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, painted several wax emulsion works.87 Working from Max Doerner’s 1921 book, The Materials of the Artist and their Use in Painting, Dove explored encaustic as a material 85

Kirk Varnedoe, "1930-1958," trans. Array, Jasper Johns: A Retrospective (NewYork: The Museum of Modern Art, 1996). 86 Amnon Goldman, Karl Zerbe – Biography. Rockport: Mercury Gallery,Web, n.d. 87 Stavitsky 3.

for expressing his “vision of the underlying material and spiritual essence of nature.”88 He began to use beeswax as wax emulsion; because it can be applied cold thus is not considered true encaustic. Near the end of Zerbe’s encaustic career, Jackson Pollock also began to experiment with wax. In 1947, he created several works on paper that are known to be wax-resist.89 Pollock may have learned about wax-resist from his former teacher, Thomas Hart Benton. In 1950 Pollock created two works that employed wax as a major element. Just a year before, the first comprehensive book on encaustic was published by Frances Pratt and Becca Fizel. Their book, Encaustic: Materials and Methods, which documented the history of the medium from Pliny to 1949, may have also been an inspiration to Pollock. Stavitsky notes that the book was extremely well received in the art community, and served to further fan the flames of an encaustic revitalization.90 Two other artists, one who would have a lasting and profound influence on Johns and his work, and one whose work inspired the young artist before he painted Flag, were also active in the 1940s and 1950s. The works of Joseph Cornell and Robert Rauschenberg hold their own semiotic system, from which I believe Johns drew much of his thought process surrounding his own work. The creation of windows and hiding places, obscured and partially viewable assemblages in Cornell’s work can be seen as a possible inspiration behind such devices in Johns’ work, as we will see shortly with the boxed forms in Johns’ target paintings. On the other hand, Johns’ relationship – much debated though undeniable – with Robert Rauschenberg paved the way for similar expression, use of material, and introduction of signs. 88

Stavitsky 1. Stavitsky 2. 90 Stavitsky 2. 89

In 1951 Ralph Mayer published a short article in Art Digest on encaustic. It defined the process, denoted supplies, and gave a brief history of the medium. Mayer noted in his first paragraph that the medium was undergoing a revival among modern painters, mostly because the effects of the medium were so “appropriate for visual and textural aims of many modern tendencies.”91 In the same year as an encaustic show at Alan Gallery in New York, Jasper Johns’ first significant encaustic painting Flag propelled him into the limelight. It is this grouping of works and artists, all active between 1930 and 1955, that I believe could have had a significant impact on John’s decision to work in encaustic and the way in which he defined signs. In fact, Johns was born in 1930, just a few years before Zerbe came to America.92 Though the basic history of the medium’s champions in the first half of the 20th century inform us about the scene surrounding Johns, we must also discuss his choice of medium before getting to the heart of his work. Stavitsky notes that encaustic “played a significant role in John’s fundamental change of spirit and attitude… in terms of what he has referred to as ‘a sense of becoming more independent and more focused, recognizing private strengths, doing something which was (his) own.”93 Working with encaustic allowed Johns the freedom to create work that hardened rapidly. It also offered him the ability to work in sections without the possibility of ruining other areas of the canvas or substrate. His work makes use of the texture of each brushstroke and the gestural qualities the wax contained. Each stroke became “distinct rather than blurred.”94

Ralph Mayer, “Encaustic Painting,” Art Digest 25.27 (1951) 27. Crichton 19. 93 Stavitsky 2. 94 Stavitsky 2. 92

The factor of texture became vital in Johns’ work over the years, evidenced by his emphasis on the shape, thickness and thinness, and handling of the medium in his works. In addition to exploiting encaustic for its textural and painterly qualities, Johns used wax as a mask in many of his compositions. The wax’s ability to simultaneously shield and emphasize certain visual elements gave Johns the flexibility to control the amount of information viewable to the audience. Though there is evidence that Johns began implementing his affinity for plainness, systems, and gridded collage before painting Flag, with this particular work we can truly start to see how Johns interposes the ideas of brushstrokes as distinct elements, subject matter as simply conventional/factual elements versus personal and private moments, and the painting as object. Important to recall is Varnedoe’s note that Johns consciously made the switch from oil-based housepaint to encaustic while painting in 1954-1955, supposedly to paint with relative speed while also maintaining discrete strokes.95 Johns’ process combined layer after layer of paint, wax medium, newspaper and collage items to create a sensation evoking a personal history. After making a preliminary charcoal sketch, he would dip strips of newspaper into wax, either pigmented or clean, and adhere them to the canvas with the same medium. Adding oil pigment and more newsprint, he could build up the surface indefinitely, hiding and obscuring certain sections as he went. Through a continual dialogue between the medium, subject, and composition, Johns was able to create a unique “amalgam of image/symbol, concept, and material.”96 By allowing the newsprint to show through the wax veil just enough for the

95 96

Stavitsky 3. Stavitsky 2.

viewer to realize what it is but not enough to read it, Johns made the medium as much of the painting as the image it supposedly depicted. Johns once said of one of his flags: “One night I dreamed that I painted a large American flag, and the next morning I got up and I went out and bought the materials to begin it.”97 The Museum of Modern Art’s label notes “A critic of the time encapsulated this painting’s ambivalence, asking, “Is this a flag or a painting?”98 Johns didn’t even paint with intentional precision: “I once painted an American flag that had sixty-eight stars. Didn’t find out for months, until I looked at it in a display and counted the stars. No one else had noticed it either.’’ Briefly, we return to Rauschenberg. The relationship between the two artists, who were at least for a time close friends – seen here in conversation – influenced each man’s work and style. In many of Johns’ later Map paintings, the quickness of brushstrokes and the hurried application calls to mind Rauschenberg’s zeal for combining found elements rapidly and without preconceived intention. Rauschenberg’s combines are like Johns’ hidden agenda: mixed together in their works, elements concurrently coalesce and refuse to blend, creating individual sets of signs and languages within each work or series. Though Johns certainly began working with his own signs as a young painter, he was indeed encouraged by the works of and perhaps even conversations with Rauschenberg.99 It is in the mid 1950s that we begin to see Johns truly coming to the forefront, and it is also at this time that his works really start to develop their unique 97

"Modern teachers: Art and Politics," Moma.org, The Museum of Modern Art. Web. 10 Oct 2012. <http://www.moma.org/modernteachers/lesson.php?lessonID=70>. 98 "The Collection," Moma.org, The Museum of Modern Art. Web. 10 Oct 2012. <http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78805>. 99 Jonathan Katz, "The Art of Code," Significant Others: Creativity and Intimate Partnership (Chadwick and de Courtivron, Thames and Hudson, 1993). Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://www.queerarts.org/archive/show4/forum/katz/katz_set.html>.

semiotic system. Robert Hughes wrote of Johns’s target paintings that "The target is a test, and Johns took it with a sort of deadpan irony to test what one expects a work of art to do. Once a target is seen aesthetically, as a unified design, its use is lost. It stops being a sign and becomes an image.” He goes on to analyze the piece using each of its parts, emphasizing that the rings of the targets “present themselves as painting alone: an even edible skin of wax encaustic, no part of it visually "superior" to the rest.” In spite of the format, the target paintings are worked through with the tradition of, as Hughes wrote, “visual "all-overness."100 His comments on the cast work that Johns did for several of his target paintings present those objects as created in an entirely different sort of tradition. Hughes notes, “Their anonymity as specimens, twice removed from life - first cast, then dipped in monochrome paint - makes them like fossils or even more, like words, signs that stand for classes of things.”101 The verbal system of signs we use – the words, such as hand, nose, ear, penis – changes the way we actually understand these objects, and in turn, Johns’ presentation of them change the way we hear the words. It is in this way that Johns’ target paintings exemplify at least two strategies for looking and understanding. In this method, his paintings become signs and the signs become paintings. Johns’ Three Flags is an elaboration on the system he engineered with his 1955 Flag. In this type of painting, Johns has taken a commonplace element and the word we use for it, flag, and American flag, and raised it to painting. However, he does so unceremoniously and without intention of creating any social commentary, and perhaps because of his personality, it is even hard for us to discern if he intended any personal narrative with the flags. With the flag paintings, Johns is, as Philip Fisher notes, “stealing 100

Robert Hughes, The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change, 1 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1981). Web. <http://www.artchive.com/artchive/J/johns/targcast.jpg.html>. 101 Hughes.

a ride on already settled visual energy.”102 Therefore, Johns did not create the flag, the stripes, the pattern, or the arrangement, he simply painted the flags, albeit inaccurately but with attention to his medium as vehicle for visual conversation. Johns did not set out to portray the flag, rather, he set out to paint. And he painted a flag. Through this, he ended up painting a flag and a painting that are one in the same and indivisible. However, the second layer of the painting – literally and figuratively – tells us more about Johns’ system of language than does the first in my view. What Johns chose to hide with wax, and what he chose to leave viewable and legible, is a telling, conscious choice on his part. This detail of Three Flags shows us several things: One, it tells us that Johns purposefully underlaid his works with readily available materials like newsprint – thus opening conversation about materials and pre-made meaning infused with artist-made meaning (another system of signs Johns works with throughout his career.) Two, it tells us that this painting is not a flag. The closer we get to it, the less it appears to be a flag – there is no thread, no stitching. Rather, the surface is vigorously worked over with wax and drips, layers and scrapes. As Fisher notes, “in the turbulence of the surface are all signs that to paint a flag is to efface it. The more it is represented, the less it is.”103 Therefore, the more Johns paints, the less the subject matter, as we might call it, though Johns might just call it the painting, appears as itself – the character of the flag fades behind the painting while not acting as part of the actual painting. These three elements provide us with insight about Johns’ habits and systems, which he further developed in his map paintings and prints of the 1960s.

102 103

Hughes. Phillip Fisher, "Critical Inquiry," Critical Inquiry 16.2 (1990): 313-354. Print. 319.

In the 1963 Map, Johns creates a wax iteration of a composition that he had repeatedly worked out in lithography previously. The fact that Johns worked in two very different media is also telling: lithography requires an artist to plan the composition, at least in the initial stages. Encaustic requires the artist to relieve control of the composition to the medium itself. Johns is displaying his tendency to work between the push and the pull, full control and lack of control. The map we see here is no real map at all – it barely signals the arrangement of states. Again, accuracy is eschewed in favor of symbols: the map becomes just a painting, and the painting is a map. In the same way Johns constructed the flags, he has constructed the maps, with one important distinction: the inclusion of painted letters, words, and abbreviations. Johns further complicates our understanding of the object, further confusing our seeing of a map with neatly defined states, all denoted in a common system. Instead, he chooses to abbreviate some states while spelling out others, obscuring state lines and bodies of water and differentiating tools with brushstrokes and color fields. The exploitation of wax here becomes not as a device for hiding, but as a device for furthering the system of signs: Johns might be asking us what it means to have attributed such names and letters to such arbitrary divisions called states. In this way, his system and work continue to mature into the 1980s. So, back to Flag. As Leo Steinberg wrote, “Does it mean anything? To Whom?...To posterity? …To the critic who knows beforehand what the needs of art are and who can see that these needs will not be served by this sort of picture? …The elements of Johns’ picture lie side by side like flint pebbles. Rubbed together they could

spark a flame, and that is their meaning perhaps.”104 Perhaps Steinberg’s assessment of Johns is exactly what we need to understand him and to understand his system: things are just things, and when painted they are no longer things. They are the artist’s painting, the figment of an imagination – much like the words and signs we perpetually use.

104

Leo Steinberg, "Jasper Johns: The First Seven Years of His Art," trans. Array, Other criteria: confrontations with twentieth-century art (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972) 17.

Works Cited (Appendix A) Crichton, Michael. Jasper Johns. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994. Print. Fisher, Phillip. "Critical Inquiry." Critical Inquiry. 16.2 (1990): 313-354. Print. Goldman, Amnon. Karl Zerbe – Biography. Rockport: Mercury Gallery,Web, n.d. Hughes, Robert. The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change. 1. Thames and Hudson, 1981. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. <http://www.artchive.com/artchive/J/johns/targcast.jpg.html>. Katz, Jonathan. "The Art of Code." Significant Others: Creativity and Intimate Partnership. Chadwick and de Courtivron. Thames and Hudson, 1993. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. <http://www.queer-arts.org/archive/show4/forum/katz/katz_set.html>. Mayer, Ralph. Encaustic Painting Art Digest 25.27: 1951. 27. "Modern teachers: Art and Politics." Moma.org. The Museum of Modern Art. Web. 10 Oct 2012. <http://www.moma.org/modernteachers/lesson.php?lessonID=70>. Stavitsky, Gail. Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America. New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1999. Print. Steinberg, Leo. "Jasper Johns: The First Seven Years of His Art." Trans. Array. Other criteria: confrontations with twentieth-century art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972. Print. "The Collection." Moma.org. The Museum of Modern Art. Web. 10 Oct 2012. <http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78805>. Varnedoe, Kirk. "1930-1958." Trans. Array. Jasper Johns: A Retrospective. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1996. Print.

Appendix B: An Experience in Curation: A Student Perspective (SEMC Student Spotlight on Research Presentation, Friday, Nov. 9, 2012) Slide 1: Title Slide 2: Before I delve into the details, I’d like to give you a brief overview of the factors at play for the exhibition. Entitled “Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast”, the exhibition was set in the Frankie G. Weems Gallery of the Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center at Meredith College. Meredith, an all-women’s liberal arts college, is relatively small. Our location in Raleigh, North Carolina, however, gives us a distinct advantage as a small college. Some background information on why I curated the exhibition is also important: Following my freshman year, I researched the technique of encaustic painting as well as its extensive, 2000+ year history. I was later invited to curate a show for the gallery. My mentor, Dr. James Boyles, Ann Roth, the gallery director, and I began the work of organizing an exhibition. They provided initial structural support, and were gracious enough to let me jump right in soon after. With this presentation, I not only want to share with you how the experience of curating an exhibition at the college level is an extremely beneficial tool for students, but I also want to provide you with some ideas about how you could create a similar experience for your own students or peers.

Slide 3: Of course, before you begin any kind of planning for an exhibition or an exhibit, you need to have an idea. More importantly, you need to have research behind that idea. As I mentioned, I had about a year and a half of research on the history of encaustic behind me before I started curating the exhibition. I began curating the show after doing about a year of research. The first thing I worked on for the show, however, was our timeline. There would be a gap in exhibitions for the gallery calendar starting in 58

September 2012, so that’s where we aimed. We set the dates for the exhibition and then worked backwards. Though, the timeline you see here begins in May 2011 –just because it was easier for me to think that way once everything was planned out.

(Slide 4, 5, 6). The timeline essentially broke down into four areas: things that had to do with artists, things that had to do with logistics, things that had to do with public relations, and things that had to do with educational programs. This document, while vital to begin as early as possible, really remained in flux to a degree, right up until the end of the show. We made sure that we put even seemingly small details on the timeline, such as finalizing the name of the show and the location. Our timeline went from very broad tasks, such as sending out a call for artists, to the very detailed, such as when to put up the vinyl wall sign for the exhibition.

Slide 7 – Almost concurrently with the development of the timeline, there needs to be discussion of what everyone is planning to get out of this experience. Often, for students, it doesn’t always seem necessary to write out your goals for a very specific project – instead, you just go do it and then you’re done. However, having had several internships for which I did not set out goals, and then subsequently was disappointed with the experiences in some way or another, I’ve learned that it truly is vital to set out some objectives for yourself. This is something I did with my advisor and the gallery director, and for me, I wanted to leave this project with a fully-realized, start-to-finish curation, education, and promotion experience under my belt.

Slide 8: The second part of the process…. Is actually the process! You’ve gotten past the planning and are now in the hard part. For me, this began with my timeline. It was created, we got names, dates, and locations nailed down, and then it was time to actually get the ball rolling. In this case, that meant producing a call for artists, waiting for submissions, and jurying the artists. I chose eleven artists from about 25 submissions, and then we set about deciding how to run the exhibition. For my goals, I wanted to support the education piece with several planned programs. My vision for the exhibition was essentially to bring a medium that had never had it’s own show at Meredith, and really not even in the city, to the forefront. To do that, I designed educational programs and contracted a student to do an online and print catalogue. These ideas translated into expenses: Normally, the gallery does not create catalogues unless there was already a grant in place to do so. This meant I had to seek out a grant. Additionally, funding programming would have to come from outside the gallery due to our budget. I set about seeking sponsorships and donors for the exhibition, and chose Burt’s Bees and Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, since I have personal connections to each of these companies. Unfortunately, our funding fell through, so we had to think on our feet and change our plans. Instead of working with our graphic design student to create a print catalog, we made an online one that could be downloaded or printed as a book. The process of getting it all together takes the bulk of the time – planning your budget, deciding how to express your vision, and arranging all the pieces before work is delivered.

Slide 9: Once you’ve done all that, it does start to come together. You’ll want to think about thematic arrangement, threads of insight, and storylines you may want your viewer

to follow. Through the education programs I planned, namely the Plant & Bee Walk and Talk, Dance/Art collaboration, Encaustic workshop, film screening, and Curator talks, we were able to introduce students, faculty, and community members to a medium they were largely unfamiliar with. We were also able to get them to start thinking about how a medium conveys meaning, and furthers that meaning. Also happening in the background during this time was the delivering of the actual paintings. For us, work from the artists was delivered September 1st, and needed to be put up by the 8th for the opening reception on the 9th. The process of unwrapping art, arranging it around the gallery, arranging moving walls, and settling on a final setup took about 2 days for us. Then comes time to hang all the work, which is a good point in the process to bring in other students – this is a task that is relatively cut and dry, and affords other students the chance to see how an exhibition actually gets on the walls. When you display, think about what you’re telling your audience and how they’re going to react. Are there things you want them to know? Perhaps make that a part of your layout. Finally, thinking about your education programs and your layout as a means for edutaining your audience can be helpful. For students, especially undergraduate students, bringing the intrinsic value and learning objectives to the forefront through fun, new experiences is key.

Slide 10: Now, all that other stuff has to happen. However, just because I’m leaving the marketing slide to the end doesn’t mean it comes at the end – it’s going to be a primary task all throughout your timeline. You know your community and institution best – what works for you? What has not worked for you in the past? What haven’t you tried? Try to think about marketing ideas that may not be in your repertoire yet. For this exhibition, we

marketed through a press release to local and regional news and culture outlets, emails targeted to college employees and to students, the gallery email newsletter, printed announcement postcards, online through Facebook and Twitter, and through signage around campus. Much of the publicity went out to local galleries as well. Another vital part of this process is documenting all that you do – have your students write down what they’re doing, almost journal-style. They can also create an exhibition notebook with all the materials they’ve been making and using. You’ll want photographs – from your empty gallery to your empty gallery and everything in between. Get pictures of the process (which, interestingly enough, excited potential donors to the Art Department). Lastly, you need to plan some kind of opening affair. We were on a $150 dollar budget, but managed to get a great spread of finger foods and drinks, and opened on a Sunday afternoon. Think about days that work for people in your community, and what they like to do. Students like to come and be seen, and professors like to mingle with the artists and community members. Cater your opening setup to that desire.

Slide 11: Perhaps you know how to cater your exhibition opening to your audience because you did some reflection after your last event – and evaluation is truly the cornerstone of this process. In this instance, I arranged evaluation that occurred during the span of the exhibition as well as after. We worked with another office on campus to design a survey for gallery visitors and placed a laptop in the exhibition for that purpose. We also passed out evaluations after the educational events. However – you can do all this, but still not get a great response. I would hope that you won’t get disappointed with this phenomenon, but instead keep working on it. The end evaluation looked at the

experience as a whole - for me, for the gallery, and for visitors. Though we’re not yet done with this process, it involves many key people: the gallery director, dean of the humanities, my advisors, and me. Evaluation on execution of a project is the best way to learn after actually doing the project, but it’s unfortunately a process that gets left off the list far too often. Depending on what you do for education and how you host your exhibition, your evaluation methods will change. It’s important to note that evaluation shouldn’t be just a blanket thing that you do the same every time – tailor your methods to your process. To make a curation experience valuable for a student, you’ll need to include thorough evaluation.

So, I’d like to close with two things: a note on what curating this exhibition has done for me and a wish for you. For me, curating this exhibition has done a variety of things: I’ve gained skills that I’d previously only read about in class or watched in my internships. I had a place where I could make small mistakes and easily fix them with my mentors. It also raised my profile in the college and in the community, and functioned not just as a resume booster, but as a real experience that I could invite people to see, where they could see how I work and the end result of my work. Finally, my wish for you: I hope you’ll consider how this process might be adapted for non-art institutions and how you could get students involved in what you do. Believe it or not, including a younger curator might bring a fresh perspective, and new visitors, to your institution. If you have questions about the knitty gritty of the process, I’d love to talk to you about it after! Thank you so much.

Appendix C: Student Curation in the College Gallery: Wax Foundations This section of the appendix is intended to be an organized collection of my thoughts and experiences during and after curating Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast. It will later be adapted into a small handbook for use by students who wish to work with the Meredith College Art Department and Frankie G. Weems Gallery to curate exhibitions. Beginning with an Idea I started the process of curating this exhibition at the end of my sophomore year of college (Spring 2011). I was approached by Ann Roth (Weems Gallery Director) and my former academic advisor, Dr. James Boyles about curating the exhibition. They each knew of my interest in the subject, and Dr. Boyles had advised my first undergraduate research project during the summer of 2010. That research project focused on the history and technique of encaustic. Having research behind you As noted, I research the history and technique of encaustic for three months under the support of a Meredith Undergraduate Research Program summer grant. I continued that research with an independent study in the Fall of 2010, pushing the research into my sophomore year. I closed that research in Dec. of 2010, when I decided to pursue another research topic to prepare for a study abroad experience. Before I left for Cambodia, I was asked to curate the exhibition. I immediately agreed and was overjoyed to begin such an experience. Knowing your timeline The first step in curating this exhibition was to find space on the Weems Gallery exhibition schedule. We found a slot for the early Fall of 2012, and began to work from

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that date backwards. Please reference the timeline document in this section to see the matrix we used to plan the programs, shipping, and other details. Essentially, this timeline gave us from May 2011 to September 2012 to work (17 months). I planned this timeline into my other projects and goals (including my coursework). Tying this into the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goals and academic coursework I chose to use this experience and an out-of-class one. I did not receive any course credit or stipend to curate the exhibition, however the experience was similar to an internship, teaching semester, or job experience. To create a workable situation for myself, I created detailed lists, timelines, and project sheets in addition to working with Dr. Boyles and Ann to stay on timeline. This section will be expanded upon in the student handbook, and will cover the following topics: A) Creating a workable set up for the student: 1. Class, syllabus, independent study 2. Places for constant evaluation and support 3. Work out what resources may help (Manual of Museum Exhibitions, etc.) Progressing through the exhibition process After finding a time for the show and beginning to fill in the timeline matrix, I set about finding artists to invite via a call to artists. I reviewed galleries, gallery websites, artist websites, and regional/county art alliance sites and publications in order to find encaustic artists to invite. We decided that artists would answer the call by submitting up to three images of their current work, from which Dr. Boyles, Ann, and I would jury the results. From over 20 artists that submitted work, we chose 11 based on those images. At

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that time, I asked artists to submit up to four images of work to include in the show. I allowed artists to include four separate pieces or a combination of series, with each series counting as one submission. We also had to consider the budget of the exhibition. The gallery was able to commit $950 to a variety of tasks (please see included budget.) We also sought sponsorships and gifts-in-kind (supplies for an encaustic workshop). To partially pay for the workshop, we charged a $10 fee to students, which gave us $130 to put toward the honorarium for Reni Gower. See attached sponsorship letters as well. Vision for show When I was asked to curate this exhibition, I thought deeply about what I wanted the result to look like. I considered my personal tastes, the tastes and needs of the Meredith College student body and faculty, and the ideas and history I had researched. As I defined encaustic as heated wax mixed with pigment and applied hot, I chose to limit my search for art by excluding any work that did not use pigment, applied the wax as an emulsion, or otherwise did not adhere to the definition I used. I also wanted to show a range of styles, and I wanted the work to represent several southeastern states. I had to consider the size of the gallery and what space I had to work with. These concerns ultimately led me to limit the artists to eleven and four works each. Finally, I wanted to convey the relevance of this medium and the art I was curating to the entire campus. We will discuss this topic more in the education section. What to do with the Work As the months passed and I worked through the timeline, planning programs, creating press releases, communicating with artists, and doing other tasks, I started to

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think about how I would display the work in order to reach my goal. Abstractly, my goal was to create an exhibition that included students from all disciplines and conveyed a variety of ideas through just over forty pieces of art. Concretely, my goal was to arrange the work in such a way that viewers would find a new (to many of them) medium interesting, visually appealing, and thought provoking. Instead of making floor plans as I might have for a science or history museum exhibit, I waited until the work had been delivered to arrange it. First, I unpacked all the work and propped it up against the wall, and then I started to rearrange works â&#x20AC;&#x201C; carrying them across the gallery, back and forth, and finally settling on an arrangement of the movable walls and the pieces that satisfied me. I considered foot traffic flow, space to see the work, themes, and color when arranging the work. How to connect to students (and staff + faculty!) Perhaps the biggest reason I am interested in museum education is that I believe alternative-space education (learning outside a classroom) is the primary way to get people interested in creative, critical thinking skills. The challenge of creating such an environment thrills me, and I wanted to experiment with that challenge for this exhibition. Typically when I write education programs for museums or other institutions, I list out the benefits, learning objectives, and benefits that will arise for the institution from evaluation. For this exhibition, my process was essentially the same. Please refer to the table of educational programming included in this section. I felt that since the Weems Gallery is on a college campus, it should reach beyond the Art Department and into other disciplines on campus. Additionally, I wanted to raise the profile of the gallery for posterity: I believe that active programming can beget support, which will in turn support

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the mission of the college itself, not just of the gallery. Therefore, my motivation with creating educational programs was two-fold: to share encaustic across disciplines and to create a model that would garner monetary support. In my search to cross disciplines with the programming, I combed WebAdvisor to find the courses that would be taught at Meredith College in Fall 2012. I chose over 40 courses and wrote tailored letters to those professors, offering tie-ins to their specific syllabus and coursework as well as explaining the benefits of getting students outside of their major and minor in order to learn more deeply. In addition, I created five other programs: a Plant & Bee Walk & Talk, a Dance/Art Collaboration, a film screening, a curator talk, an encaustic workshop, and class-specific experiences. I had also wanted to create self-guided tour cards, but did not have the time or resources to do so. Unfortunately, no classes contacted me to take advantage of the class-specific experiences. However, 18 students signed up for the workshop, 13 of those paid, and 10 attended. 4 people total attended the two Walk & Talks, 3 attended the film screening (Karl Zerbe’s encaustic film, the first-ever to be made on encaustic – 1954), 7 people attended the Dance/Art collaboration and 2 dancers participated, and 6 people attended the curator talks. In trying to create educational programs, I sought to find topics and ideas that would interest students both inside and outside of the Art Department. I also sought to connect other college experiences with the exhibition while it was up (Sept. 9-Oct 28th). Finally, though, the art was what inspired me as I created each program.

What “peripherals” have to happen? It was a dream to have the chance to curate an exhibition, and it was an even bigger dream to be able to direct to create of an online and print catalogue and announcement cards. I worked with senior graphic design student Emily Melton to create these documents during the Summer of 2012. Ideally, the design student would have received course credit or would have been able to use the project toward her own major goals or requirements. However, I do not think Emily opted to do this. Despite that, she was extraordinarily professional and patient with me as I changed pages around, included new documents, and gave her new images. I call these items “peripherals” because they are not the main focus of the exhibition, but they are vital, in my opinion, to part of a show’s success. For financial reasons, we opted to have an online catalogue, and used Issuu to host it for free. We linked the catalogue to Meredith’s Art Department website. This is the link: http://issuu.com/meredithart/docs/wf_catalogue. Additionally, I have included a print version in this section, as well as a copy of the announcement card that was mailed to the gallery list, placed in public spaces in Raleigh, and given out during the exhibition. To publicize the exhibition, I wrote and rewrote a press release with Ann (also included here). That press release was sent to the Meredith publicity contacts as well as local news outlets, TV, radio, magazines, and other outlets. I publicized on campus as well, through Enews, emails targeted to faculty and students, and through posters for specific educational programs around campus. Another “peripheral” is the opening of the exhibition. We opted to have a reception with catered food, and managed to stay under budget. We also recorded the

number of attendees, and noted that we had a record number of 86 attendees on the opening day. 9 of the artists attended, as well as many faculty and students. Evaluation The final piece in this exhibition experience was to evaluate all of the educational programs and the show itself. In creating surveys and other evaluative material, I found this guide to be very helpful: http://www.nasaa-arts.org/Members/Evaluation_Guide.pdf. My method of evaluation was to look at individual programs, the exhibition itself, and the process and execution of these.

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Appendix D: Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast Exhibition Materials Exhibition Timeline May 2011

Summer 2011

Artist •

•

Finalize show title, artists, description, etc

January 2012

•

Feb 2012

•

March 2012

•

April/Ma y 2012

•

Public Relations

Programs

Narrow down to 10 artists

August 2011 Septemb er 2011

Logistics • Location: Weems Gallery • Send in grant proposal form to Linda Hatcher

Send invitation to artists

•

Artist’s contract – jan 30 Check in with artists – jan 16

•

Resume, bio, website info due – feb 15 2 representati ve images due- mar 1

•

Final images due (pieces that will be in show) Summer update email to artists

•

Send in letter of inquiry Send in grant app Didn’t get grant Pick graphic designer for foldable (paper show piece) and online exhibition

•

Working on foldable and postcard Start to build online exhibition Progress on foldable

•

Make insurance list Resave pic files for designer Review gallery placement

•

Possible collaboration with SECAC Begin brainstorming educational activities surrounding show

Proof all print items Work on edu programs, contact artists for demos, talks, etc Make a list of classes that are particularly relevant/connect ed to show, prepare personal letter to professors

•

Discuss catalog – have a computer at gallery, Emily Melton designing? Write

• June/July 2012

•

8 weeks ahead

6 weeks ahead 4 weeks ahead

•

postcard should be done, only minor changes if need be

•

Educational programs finalized

•

Send letters (and email) to professors Announcement to copy center Press release and images to Marketing Update community calendars/art venues Mail and email announcement to gallery/emp lists Facebook invitation

• •

•

3 Weeks ahead

•

Inventory due

• •

• • 2 Weeks ahead 1 Week ahead

Sept 9 2012 – Oct 28 Week After

• Work delivered by Sept 1, put up between Sept 1-8

• •

Order food Send ins. List (Dee Perry?) Print sales list Order door sign Prepare artist’s notebook Print wall labels Install show

SHOW OPENS/closes Work taken down by Oct 30th

•

Gallery update ft. exhibition to gallery email and emp_all lists

•

Possible SECAC event

outline for catalog Organize catalog essay(s) Review postcard and catalog

Confirm public/college events

•

Upload catalog to Issuu, make sure there is a link on website, enews, etc

Take down exhibition

Budget 2012-2013 Meredith College Art Galleries Projected Expenses Wax Foundations 9/9-10/28 Fee/Honoraria Shipping Installation Demonstrations Reni Gower Honorarium Brochure Announcements Reception Supplies

0 0 150 100 400 0 150 150 0 950

Total

950

Possible Sponsorships: Burt's Bees Brushy Mountain Bee Farm R&F Paints Income from RG class

200 200 (supplies) 10 each, 13 130 paid

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Call to Artists Call for Artists: Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast Attention all encaustic artists working in the Southeast! Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast is an exhibition to be held in the Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery at Meredith College September 9 - November 29, 2012. I am currently contacting artists from the Southeast who work in encaustic, and I would like to invite you to submit images of your use of the medium to be considered for the exhibition. Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast will examine the importance and communicative possibilities of texture and encaustic as a medium. I am seeking innovative work that actively exploits its textural capabilities and directly communicates the motivation for using encaustic as a painting or sculptural vehicle. Two- and threedimensional work is welcome. If you would like to submit your work for consideration, please email me at kristenmg.art@gmail.com with the subject header as “Interest in Wax Foundations.” You may submit up to three high quality JPEG images of work done in the past two years that is representative of your current style. At this time, there is no need to include a résumé; however, please include your name, physical address, phone number, and an artist’s statement or any information you feel relevant to your participation. All entries are due by July 25, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. My faculty advisers and I will make selections between July 26th and August 10th, and artists whose work has been accepted will be notified by email by August 11th. We are working this far in advance to give you the opportunity to make new pieces for the show. I hope that you will be interested in this opportunity, and that I will hear from you soon. Sincerely, Kristen Gallagher Student Curator

Catalog Essay: Kristen Gallagher For a medium over two thousand years old, encaustic has a strikingly contemporary feel to it. With roots in ancient Greece and a past that leads through valleys in Egypt, cold monasteries in Russia, salons and conversations in 18th century England and France, in old Boston churches, encaustic has experienced a renaissance. This medium, marked by the use of melted wax mixed with pigments and applied hot to substrates, is one with a varied and colorful history. Though never truly dormant, as some have suggested, encaustic has slipped in and out of popular taste. Here in America, the medium’s story winds throughout schools of thought and various artists’s studios – including Rembrandt Peale, John La Farge, Karl Zerbe, Arthur Dove, and most notably Jasper Johns. Today, encaustic artists are striking new ground, building on the foundations laid by artists before them. Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast documents the development of the medium in the spirit of its history. As the first encaustic exhibition at Meredith College, and the first in the region, Wax Foundations contributes to the foundation already laid: the exhibition creates an opportunity to question the ballooning popularity of the medium while examining the expertise and vision it takes to create stunning works of wax and pigment. Wax Foundations explores the relationships made between wax and pigments, layers and substrates. It seeks to foster discussions of the medium itself, the nature of originality, texture, and depth. Forty-one works by eleven artists from North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina present their distinctive methods and visions. Through their work, the artists have pushed encaustic to new heights. Work in the exhibition ranges from tactile and literally impastoed to sheer and smooth. The work quietly references the heritage of wax painting while echoing each artist’s own words; each piece speaks individually, while the exhibition as a whole makes its own statement. As a student, an artist, and a curator, I have approached the coordination of Wax Foundations with curiosity and wonder. Perhaps what drew me to wax over eight years ago was its virtuoso quality of transformation. I found I could express layers upon layers of intention and meaning, pushing the translucent, flowing medium under papers and over insect wings and through textiles. I believe the artists in this exhibition must have felt a similar curiosity with wax when they first began melting and mixing. In the light of the thousands of artists who have explored this medium since it was first conceived, it appears that it is clear wax holds intense magnetism and possibility a vast range of possibilities for both the creator and the viewer. My fascination with the history and artistic dimensions of the medium prompted the organization of Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast. Adjunct professor of art history Dr. Boyles, and Frankie G. Weems Gallery Director Ann Roth provided guidance and support in shaping and producing the exhibition, programs and catalogue. The entire process has fascinated us, and we have been given many an opportunity to learn, to experience, and to question, and above all, to enjoy art. I hope you will do the same as you turn these pages and meander through the gallery.

Catalog Essay: Ann Roth Kristen Gallagher came to me with the concept for this exhibition a year and a half ago, near the end of her sophomore year at Meredith. That previous summer, Kristen had done an independent study about the history and technical aspects of encaustic with Dr. James Boyles. She wanted to do an exhibition of contemporary work in the medium to show its relevance in today’s art world. Specifically, she was interested in the textural qualities of encaustic, and wanted to seek out artists whose work examined that theme. She had already created a contract major in arts management and had the support of art history faculty Dr. Beth Mulvaney and Dr. Boyles. I was impressed by her enthusiasm, and perhaps more important to the process of planning and installing an exhibition, her organizational skills, initiative and confidence. She did not disappoint. I am pleased the Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery is presenting Wax Foundations on a variety of levels: Kristen is establishing important professional credibility in exhibition development: creating a master plan, seeking out and coordinating artists, managing exhibition logistics and installation, developing supplementary programs and producing a catalogue. The show is a stimulus to Meredith College art students as it exposes them to new ideas and techniques. No college gallery is an island, and Kristen has assembled a series of programs that reach out to other disciplines across campus to provide broader perspectives and context to the artwork. The exhibition demonstrates Kristen’s talent, vision, commitment, follow-through, and desire to learn and grow through this experience. It was a pleasure to work with her, and to learn from her, as well. Catalog Essay: John Kincheloe and Dr. William Landis Who Says It’s “None of Your Beeswax?” Humans have used beeswax for centuries for a variety of purposes – for cosmetics, polishes, medicines, candles, and seals. Some of the earliest audio recordings were done on beeswax cylinders, and early writing was done on beeswax tablets. For artists, it is has been a vehicle for resisting pigments, for resisting the plate-biting effects of acid, and for applying pigments. We all know that bees make that slow-pouring, special-tasting, amber-colored sweet stuff. But, in fact, that is not all they make. A worker bee produces tiny wax flakes when she is only 12 days old. Inside every beehive is a remarkable architecture made of beeproduced wax. Worker bees must consume about 8 times as much nectar and pollen to make beeswax than it would take for them to make an equivalent amount of honey. It is estimated that bees must fly around 150,000 miles to get enough pollen and nectar to make a pound of beeswax. Bees reward themselves, and us, with honey and wax, but they give us even more. Over millions of years, bees and other animals have fine-tuned a choreography with flowering plants, their flowers trading food in the form of nectar for the bees in exchange for a taxiride for their pollen to another plant. And it is well and good that they do, for this ancient relationship between bees and flowering plants is directly responsible for the pollination of 35% of the world’s crop production, increasing the output of 87 of the leading food

crops worldwide1. Thus, the fate of a significant portion of our food is tied to the wellbeing of this diminutive animal. Embedded within each encaustic painting is the work of humans and nature, the creative efforts of both bee and artist. 1

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Oct 2006, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061025165904.htm

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Sponsorship Letters Brushy Mountain Bee Farm 610 Bethany Church Road Moravian Falls, NC 28654 Dear Mr. and Mrs. Forrest, As a customer of Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, I have been quite impressed with the quality of the wax you provide. I am an encaustic (wax painting) artist, and I use your wax blocks in my own art. I am also a Museum Studies student at Meredith College, and a guest curator of “Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast.” I am writing to you to tell you about my upcoming exhibition, which includes over forty encaustic paintings from eleven regional artists. The exhibition will open September 9th, 2012, and I am seeking ways to diversify my audience and promote the art of wax. I would like to ask your company to be a sponsor of this first-of-its-kind exhibition at Meredith College. The Frankie G. Weems Gallery at Meredith is coordinated by Ann Roth, a longtime artist and our gallery director. The Weems Gallery is a beautiful, skylit space that will become the perfect backdrop to highlight the versatility of beeswax and pigment. Under Ann’s tutelage, I have spent the last year and a half organizing and curating this exhibition. The opening of this show will mark a new type of art show at Meredith: one that includes more ways for people to interact with artists, the art itself, and the medium. I am planning multiple educational programs that I hope will enhance the experience of art on our campus, in our community, and in this region. Among the programming for this exhibition are special tours, a plant & bee walk-and-talk, a screening of a 20th century film on encaustic painting, and an artist talk and workshop for students. Your sponsorship could provide students with materials to learn encaustic techniques, honoraria for artists and lecturers, support to educate visitors about the importance of bees in the web of life, or stipends for classes to experience an art they’ve never encountered. Sponsoring this exhibition is a wonderful way for your company to impact the lives of hundreds of visitors, students, and all of the artists involved. In addition, it’s a great way to expand your potential customer base and reach in our community: Raleigh has a vibrant, active art scene and encaustic art is an up-and-coming medium. We hope that sponsoring “Wax Foundation: Encaustic in the Southeast” will give Brushy Mountain Bee Farm a profound sense of community and arts appreciation. At the $500 level, a sponsorship will give your company a presence at the exhibition: along with our signage, your company name will be noted as a sponsor. The Frankie G. Weems Gallery and I would be honored to collaborate with your company, and the exhibition and our audience will benefit deeply from your sponsorship. I’d like to thank you for your time and consideration, and would love to talk with you more about this opportunity for your company. Again, I want to stress how excited I am to be curating this exhibition and hopefully beginning a long-lasting relationship Brushy

Mountain Bee Farm. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss sponsorship of the gallery! -Burt's Bees, Inc. P.O. Box 13489 Durham, NC 27709-3489 Dear Managers, As a longtime customer and lover of Burt’s Bees, I have been quite impressed with the products you create and your company’s commitment to sustainability and strong communities. I am also a Museum Studies student at Meredith College, and a guest curator of “Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast.” I am writing to you to tell you about my upcoming exhibition, which includes over forty encaustic paintings from eleven regional artists. The exhibition will open September 9th, 2012, and I am seeking ways to diversify my audience and promote the art of wax. I would like to ask your company to be a sponsor of this first-of-its-kind exhibition at Meredith College. The Frankie G. Weems Gallery at Meredith is coordinated by Ann Roth, a longtime artist and our gallery director. The Weems Gallery is a beautiful, skylit space that will become the perfect backdrop to highlight the versatility of beeswax and pigment. Under Ann’s tutelage, I have spent the last year and a half organizing and curating this exhibition. The opening of this show will mark a new type of art show at Meredith: one that includes more ways for people to interact with artists, the art itself, and the medium. I am planning multiple educational programs that I hope will enhance the experience of art on our campus, in our community, and in this region. Among the programming for this exhibition are special tours, a plant & bee walk-and-talk, a screening of a 20th century film on encaustic painting, and an artist talk and workshop for students in Durham, connected with the Southeastern College Art Conference in September. Your sponsorship could provide students with materials to learn encaustic techniques, honoraria for artists and lecturers, support to educate visitors about the importance of bees in the web of life, or stipends for classes to experience an art they’ve never encountered. Sponsoring this exhibition is a wonderful way for your company to impact the lives of hundreds of visitors, students, and all of the artists involved. In addition, it’s a great way to expand your potential customer base and reach in our community: Raleigh has a vibrant, active art scene and encaustic art is an up-and-coming medium. We hope that sponsoring “Wax Foundation: Encaustic in the Southeast” will give Burt’s Bees a profound sense of community and arts appreciation. At the $500 level, a sponsorship will give your company a presence at the exhibition: along with our signage, your company name will be noted as a sponsor. The Frankie G. Weems Gallery and I would be honored to collaborate with your company, and the exhibition and our audience will benefit deeply from your sponsorship.

I’d like to thank you for your time and consideration, and would love to talk with you more about this opportunity for your company. Again, I want to stress how excited I am to be curating this exhibition and hopefully beginning a long-lasting relationship Burt’s Bees. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss sponsorship of the gallery! -Dear Mr. Frumess, I believe you and I have corresponded before about encaustic, and I have very much appreciated the Rifka Angel booklet you mailed me. As you may know, I am the student curator of “Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast.” I am writing to you to tell you about my upcoming exhibition, which includes over forty encaustic paintings from eleven regional artists. The exhibition will open September 9th, 2012, and I am planning several education programs in support of it. You also may know Reni Gower, an artist in this exhibition and an attendee and presenter at the upcoming SECAC 2012 Conference. She and I are planning a workshop that she will teach for Meredith students, the public, and SECAC attendees on the last day of the conference, Saturday, October 20th in the Durham Art Center. I would like to ask you if you and your company would be willing to underwrite the cost of the workshop supplies. I expect there to be fewer than twenty attendees, and therefore our costs will be relatively low. This would be a wonderful extension of your participation as a SECAC vendor – perhaps professors and attendees would like to see your products in action? I know that Meredith students would greatly benefit from being exposed to encaustic and would enjoy working with your paints. I’d like to thank you for your time and consideration, and would love to talk with you more about this opportunity. I would be happy to share the supply list that Reni has provided. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss sponsorship of the gallery! Sincerely, Kristen M. Gallagher Meredith College, Student Curator, (704) 619 1414

Education Programs and Proposed Evaluation Program Date/Location Summary Karl Zerbe film (Mon Oct 8, Made by screening 10am in German Gaddyexpatriate and Hamrick Art artist Karl Center, Room Zerbe in the 137) 1950s about techniques he helped to revive in the 1930s, this film informed dozens of encaustic artists in the mid 20th century. See the short film that started a movement, and stay for a discussion.

Objectives -Provide viewers with a historical background to encaustic -Discussion to provide interdisciplinary look at the “then and now” of enc art -provide a multimedia experience of art history

Methods -Survey cards provided to each participant – ask questions based on objectives (3-4 ?s only)

-survey cards

Plant & Bee Walk & Talk

(Mon 10 and Thurs Sept 13, 10-11am, meet in GaddyHamrick Art Center lobby)

Join us on an interactive tour of Meredith's plants, trees, and bees to see how the art of encaustic is intimately connected with the natural world. The walk & talk will be given by Dr. William Landis and John Kincheloe and will begin at the GaddyHamrick Art Center.

-Provide another dimension of study: the relationship between plants, agriculture, bees, and art -Provide an opportunity for students to learn more about the campus in the context of plants and art

Curator Talk & Tour

(Mon 24 and Thurs Sept 27,

Student Curator Kristen

-expose viewers -survey cards to a little-

10am, meet in Weems Gallery)

Gallagher will give a thirtyminute tour of the exhibition, discussing the themes involved and answering audience questions.

Encaustic Workshop & Artist Talk

(Sat, Oct. 20th, time TBA, Durham Art Center)

Taught by artist Reni Gower and open to both the public and Meredith students, this workshop will go over the basics of encaustic painting. Free for students, $5 for the public/SECAC attendees.

Self-Guided Tours

(during Gallery hours, Frankie G. Weems Gallery)

Use one of the laminated tour cards to go through the exhibition at your own pace.

Class-Specific

(during Gallery

Specific

discussed medium -provide an art historical background to contemporary art -provide multiple interpretive pathways for visitors (and tools for them to carry to other exhibitions) -provide students and other attendees with the basic techniques of encaustic painting -provide students with an experience talking with a professional artist -provide students with an opportunity to explore the arts of a neighboring city (Durham) -provide visitors with tools to interpret, discuss, and think about art -provide a brief historical background on encaustic Specific goals

-survey cards given to all participants

-online survey (on computer in gallery or right outside of gallery)

-online surveys

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Experiences

hours, Frankie G. Weems Gallery)

opportunities for each class, see below.

for each class, see below.

Dance/Art Collaboration

2-3pm, Oct 28 (closing)

2 dancers to interpret works of art through dance (Nicole Lawson, Chelsea Wettroth)

Provide visitors with a unique experience – seeing art and dance mesh while they are literally in the gallery and a part of the action

sent to professors. Each “subject area” (classes grouped in areas) will have a unique survey Surveys after experience

Targeted Class List Letters to Professors - Wax Foundations CLASS Modern Biological Concepts Principles of Biology Biology in Society Environmental Science Evolution Bio Seminar Prism - The Great Food Debate Business and Society Organic Chemistry Public Speaking Interpersonal Communication Nonverbal Communication Fundamental Concepts of Art in Education Creativity Learning in Cultural Concepts English English Intro to Film New Media Writing Newspaper Textiles Food and Society Earth Science Western Civilization World in the 20th Century American History-1876 History of Arch. Int and Furnishings Interior Design 1 Interior Design 2 Plants and People Intro to Psychology Perception Principles of Sociology

ID BIO 105 BIO 110 BIO 205 BIO 225 BIO 254 BIO 399 BIO 949 BUS 150 CHE 221 COM 225 COM 260 COM 370

PROF A. Marritt-Pabalate J Andrus Reid Lindquist Cuffney Mecham Aghoram/Landis J Barnes Powell Spero, Yamada Ross, Grant Ross

EDU 244 EDU 639 EDU 700 ENG 111 ENG 200 ENG 240 ENG 280 ? FMD 418 FN 627 GEO 200 HIS 102 HIS 103 HIS 214 INT 142 INT 144 INT 244 IDS 398 PSY 100 PSY 332 SOC 230

Page, Shapiro, Rodgers Duncan Delaney get list - send to all get list - send to all Johnson Duncan Duncan Ellis McMillen Stutz Novak, Varley Vitarbo Fountain Goode Crowley Goode Swab Morris, Aubrecht O'Dekirk Hess

Example of Professor Letter Dear (Professor), I would like to invite you and your Fall 2012 classes to experience the Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast exhibition from September 9-October 28th. The exhibition, which will be held in the Frankie G. Weems Gallery in the GaddyHamrick Art Center, is one I have been coordinating and curating since the early summer of 2011. It is my goal to increase the appreciation of the arts on Meredith’s campus, but also to share how the arts, especially visual arts, can enhance and complement every discipline. I feel that your biology classes in particular will benefit greatly from the exhibition. One of the programs of the exhibition, a Plant & Bee Walk & Talk tour of the Meredith grounds, is being hosted by Dr. William Landis and John Kincheloe. The tour will discuss the relationship between our natural world, our food, and the wax used by the artists in the exhibition. There are four specific programs: • DanceArt Collaboration (Date TBA in Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center, Room 137) A collaborative production between students of Meredith College’s Dance program and the Weems Gallery will infuse the gallery space with living art. • Plant & Bee Walk & Talk (Monday, Sept 10 and 13, 10-11am, meet in GaddyHamrick Art Center lobby) • Curator Talk & Tour (Monday, Sept 24, and Thursday, Sept. 27, 10am, meet in Weems Gallery) I will give a thirty-minute tour of the exhibition, discussing the themes involved and answering audience questions. • Encaustic Workshop & Artist Talk (Sat, Oct. 20th, time TBA, Durham Art Center) Taught by artist Reni Gower and open to both the public and Meredith students, this workshop will go over the basics of encaustic painting. No prior experience needed. $10 Workshop fee for student and SECAC attendees. • Self-Guided Tours Use one of the laminated tour cards to go through the exhibition at your own pace. The gallery is open throughout the week and weekend, and is quite accessible. I encourage you to share this exhibition with your students, and I would gladly work with you if you are interested in creating a specific tour or experience for your class. If you would like to schedule a special tour for your class, or you offer extra credit for attendance at one of the events, please let me know as we are surveying the educational programs as visitors complete them. Thank you so much for your time and consideration of this opportunity. I hope to see you and your students! Please feel free to contact me at any time. Sincerely, Kristen Gallagher, kristenmg.art@gmail.com

Press Release Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast Contact: Ann Roth, Meredith College Gallery Director, (919) 760-8239, gallery@meredith.edu For Immediate Release Meredith College, Raleigh, NC - The Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery will present Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast. The exhibition will open Sunday, September 9 with a reception from 2:00-4:00 p.m., and continues through October 28. Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast documents the development of the medium in the spirit of its history. As the first such exhibition at Meredith College, and the first in the region, it creates an opportunity to question the ballooning popularity of the medium while examining the expertise and vision it takes to create stunning works of wax and pigment. The regional exhibition shares paintings from artists whose work ranges from representational to abstracted. Encaustic, the art of using melted wax mixed with pigments to create paint, is an art form with a two-thousand year history. The paintings, whose themes run from textural studies to discussions of layering and depth, will be on view. Several educational programs are planned, including a plant & bee walk & talk, dance/art collaboration, curator talk and tour, and an artist workshop. For specific dates and times, check the Gallery website: http://www.meredith.edu/art/gallery-info.htm. The exhibition explores the relationships made between wax and pigments, layers and substrates. It seeks to foster discussions of the medium itself, the nature of originality, texture, and depth. Through their work, the artists have pushed the medium to new heights. Work ranges from tactile and heavily applied to sheer and smooth. The works quietly reference the heritage of wax painting while echoing each artist’s own words; each piece speaks individually, while the show as a whole makes its own statement. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM, and Sunday, 2 – 5 PM. The Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center is located on the western edge of the Meredith College campus, across from the Weatherspoon Gym. For further information, contact The Meredith College Art Department (919)760-8332. Chartered in 1891, Meredith College is a private, four-year, liberal arts college for women.

Pricelist Wax Foundations: Encaustic in the Southeast Price List LN

Title

Kilburg

Patricia

Gower

Reni

The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants Vital Signs II Constructed Response Vocalise Snow Firebird

$1,650.00 $1,650.00 $675.00 $2,000.00 $2,000.00 $2,000.00

Grubb

Tom

North Pole Voyager Expedition

$4,800.00

Orion - The Hunter

$9,700.00

The Word Honey Flow Passing Through Passing Over Beneath The Surface

$4,800.00 $850.00 $500.00 $500.00 $1,000.00

Grid 8

$1,400.00

Grid 12

$1,600.00

House 12

$1,600.00

Striped Grid

$1,400.00

Trace.111

$1,800.00

Venetian Lace.14

$1,600.00

Venetian Lace.16

$1,400.00

Venetian Lace.17 Foliage Mad Vase Mind's Eye Tangled Web

$1,600.00 $1,632.00 $1,632.00 $1,632.00 $1,632.00

Transfer Reflection Turtle Bones and The Gulf Moon Jellyfist and The Spill

$900.00 $900.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00

Bachenheimer

Peg

Lynn

Bregman Blass

Nodine

Jane Allen

Spainhour

Pat

Hitchcock

Alix

Price

King

Joyce Watkins

Farmer

Mary

Graham

Lew

Terrain (Diptych) Bob and Weave (Diptych) Blimp (Diptych) Casting a Net The Murder Mystery Facing Your Dream Northern Lights Fanciful Green Stack Red Stack Matisse Blue My Greens

$1,600.00 $1,500.00 $1,600.00 $1,100.00 $4,800.00 $1,850.00 $2,950.00 $1,100.00 $1,800.00 $1,800.00 $900.00 $900.00

Curator Talk and Tour Welcome, introduction (name, year, major, minor) Brief discussion of development of exhibition Research after Freshman year 2 year development Process of getting artists and organizing the exhibition Begin with “what is encaustic” Themes: Texture, Depth, Layering Talk about each artist’s work (list artists) brief (BRIEF) bio and sentence about their works and style Patricia Kilburg Greenville SC Reni Gower Mechanicsville VA Tom Grubb Eastover NC Peg Bachenheimer Carrboro Bregman Blass

Lynn

Chapel Hill

Jane Allen Pat Alix

Nodine Spainhour Hitchcock

Spartanburg SC Lewisville NC Mocksville NC

Joyce Watkins Mary Lew

King Farmer Graham

Raleigh Asheville Chapel Hill

Conclusion – encaustic as a burgeoning type of art, next ground, etc. Questions Dance/Art Collaboration -Approached Alyson Colwell-Waber in August about finding 2-4 dance students interested in improvisational and reactive dance in the gallery -Nicole Lawson (a freshman) and Chelsea Wettroth (a senior) participated, and two others had planned to participate, but canceled at the last moment. -For two 25 minute sessions, the dancers reacted and moved in response to the works in the Weems Gallery. Visitors went about their way, observing the works while the dance was occurring. -We received a great deal of good feedback from the visitors and the dancers, who were interested in doing it again. -There was no music or special lighting, but this could be a consideration in the future. Plant & Bee Walk & Talk -John Kincheloe organized a brief bee biology segment, augmented by the portable bee observation hive from NCSU. -Dr. Landis organized a campus plant walk that showed pollination in action and how plants we depend on in turn depend on bees.