Wax Fusion - Spring, Issue VI:2022

Wax Fusion Diane Kleiss Michele Randall Catherine Walworth Barb Cone Rebecca Stevenson

A digital publication of International-Encaustic-Artists.org Spring, Issue VI:2022 Avant-Garde in the 21st Century

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Board of Directors S. Kay Burnet President

Lyn Belisl

Mary Jo Reutte

Vice President

Treasurer

Rhonda Raulsto Secretary Tech Director

Michelle Robinso

Melissa Lackma

Exhibitions Director

Grants Director

Regina B Quin Social Media Director

Paul Klin Member-at-large

Front cover, There is a Spell in Every Sea-shell by Rebecca Stevenson Wax and polyester resin, 46 x 35 x 30 cm

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From the Editors Avant-garde art pushes the boundaries of ideas and creativity and is often used to describe art that is radical. But it also applies to art that reflects an originality of vision that is innovative or explores new forms or subject matter. We invited artists to explore “What is avant-garde in the 21st Century?” and share their most avant-garde art, techniques, and materials.

We also invited Curator Catherine Walworth to share her views Our feature artists definitely push boundaries. Diane Kleiss looks for unique approaches and materials for exploring large worldwide questions, women’s issues, the environment, and the weight of our discarded trash.

Michele Randall uses a camera-less photographic process developed in the 1800s to use the sun to print and then enhance the prints with encaustic.

Barb Cone has a unique way to deconstruct perfection and builds reconstructed sculptures with the transformed material. Rebecca Stevenson uses wax to generate both attraction and repulsion. She's inspired by the Italian anatomical wax modelers of the 17th century, and her work often references the Dutch painters, who juxtaposed dead animals with fruit and flowers This exciting, even edgy, diversity in encaustic art and theory was also a major theme at our recent ConVergence retreat in Morro Bay. Intensive and joyous, this gathering brought together teachers and artists who help define the future directions of wax-based art, as you will see in this issue’s featured report.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Wax Fusion. And we would love to get your feedback. Please contact us at WaxFusion@International-EncausticArtists.org with comments, questions, ideas, and suggestions While this journal exists to serve the needs of IEA members, it is also free and available to the public. You are welcome to share this journal with anyone interested or working in the visual arts, looking for information on encaustics, or beginning to explore the world of encaustics Lyn Belisle S. Kay Burnett Paul Kline

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Spirit Figures sculptures by Barb Cone Encaustic, carving foam, paper clay, rust, wooden dowel

Guardian Series encaustic prints

by Barb Cone Encaustic, oil stick, Washi paper

Beacon 19 x 9 x 4 in

Tall Walkers 20 x 24.5 x .5 in

Elder 22 x 16 x 4 in

Gatekeeper 22 x 16 x 4 in

Messenger 19 x 22.5 x .5 in

Content Instructional Building Structure

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Diane Kleiss

Printing with the Sun

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Michele Randall

Inspirational Avant-Garde in the 21st Century?

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Catherine Walworth

Deconstructing Perfection

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Barb Cone

Sweet and Sinister

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Rebecca Stevenson

Exhibitions, Awards, and Events ConVergence

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Art Center Morro Bay

The La Vendéenne Awards Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch Lora Murphy

ConVergence — Wax on the Water Presenters & Instructors IEA Retreat Sponsors & Donors

IEA on Social Media

Red Hawk 20 x 29 x .5 in

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Back Cover, Highway Beautification by Diane Kleiss Encaustic, cigarette butts, handmade paper, wax batik, dye, basswood 36 x 10 x 4 in 5

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Building Structure Diane Kleiss Building structure… from the bottom up… from the top down I love the challenge and process that presents itself when just a spark of an idea is transformed into a visual, and then, the di cult part - building the piece to re ect that original idea.

The trial and error involved in accomplishing this – to ‘speak’ the truth that I wanted to express – keeps me in my studio; a practice I started 66 years ago when I was 13 years old.

Conveying that truth is my personal story, but I always want my pieces to have a universal message. As I survey the subjects and styles that my art has taken over the years, I see that I am greatly in uenced by large worldwide questions, women’s issues, the environment, and the weight of our discarded trash.

My personal perspective could stay hidden; the viewers are the ones needing to nd the parts that speak to them. This is my ultimate goal: to keep the viewer involved in ‘looking,’ to be engaged, and maybe, if I am lucky, transformed in some way.

In 2008, when I lived in Tucson, AZ, Miles Conrad had a workshop based on 3D-wax sculpture. It became such a de ning moment for my art journey. Sculpture was it, what I was looking for, I was hooked! I wanted to experiment with this media and my head was bursting with possibilities When Women Were Birds #3 Encaustic, mixed media, cardboard, found objects 30 x 14 x 14 in

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I started combining all my previous techniques of oil/acrylic paint, clay, and wood sculpting and applying them to encaustic, which would be incorporated in all of my later work.

Some of the workshop participants soon formed a group; we wanted to share our trial and error learning process. Our once a month meetings, each in a different member’s studio, expanded our knowledge of this medium.

Miles suggested we start a wax group and join IEA. We formed SAZWAX, Southern Arizona Wax. I eventually was part of the IEA board for three years and also went to the yearly conferences held around the U.S., which was another incredible learning and sharing experience

Storm Watcher I first started applying the wax to flat surfaces, pouring and painting layers, and then carving into the surface, building up the texture, depth, and detail that I loved. I used some of my finely chiseled tools from my wood carving days and also added some of the smaller metal wax scrappers. The trick with carving wax is the control of the heat gun in fusing. I use quick up and down motions, at low temps, and never hold the gun on one spot. I have always used an 8:1 ratio for my wax medium (eight cups wax to one cup damar resin) I did a series with ravens as a central theme, which I considered the harbingers of what was happening to our endangered habitat. This wax medium, found and formed in nature, added to my environmental themes.

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Storm Watcher Carved poured encaustic on cradle board 16 x 16 x 2 in

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Altered Worlds I kept pushing this malleable material – “If I can do this, then maybe I can do that!” Its many possibilities opened up the door that transformed my approach to my ensuing work I am always fascinated when pouring the colored wax: the push and pull as the colors either merge or repel when bumping up against each other. For my Altered Worlds, I used heated round metal pans, instead of my usual rectangle ones.

Lifting the 1/4 inch thick sheets out, after cooling in the refrigerator, I found that the color blending was di erent on both sides.

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Altered Worlds Encaustic, embroidery hoops, chain, twigs 8 to 14 inch in varying sizes

My rst series using this process was Altered Worlds, pieces ranging from 8 to 14 inches enclosed in embroidery hoops and hung with a small linked chain and a swivel to turn slowly in a slight breeze.

I did ponder how I would encase these. Finally looking through my bins of previous projects, I found some old embroidery hoops. After cutting and reforming the tops and taking out the metal pieces, they were light and strong enough and they worked beautifully!

After cutting out a 3 inch circle in each wax piece, I inserted another one consisting of contrasting color forms to represent the ongoing changing environments in the world. Sometimes I added a small dried twig to represent dying trees.

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Preserved Pods The next series using this process was The Seed Project. This idea was sparked by reading about the worldwide effort to save native seeds by storing them in seed banks. After the pouring and cooling process, I picked the wax up, and warming it with my hands, I sculpted it into fantasy seed pods, sometimes adding actual seeds embedded in the pods. I then wound them with gold wire representing alchemy so that someday they would be worth their weight in gold, as I think the world has found this fact to be true.

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I made 15 of them, each encased in 8 x 2 inch glass jars, sealed with gauze and wax, like my Mom had sealed her jars of jellies.

Heating small metal numbered stamps, I pressed a number on top of the wax seals and rubbed graphite in the impression to make them stand out. I then made up Latin names on curio labels attached with gold wire to represent a genuine species

Preserved Pods Poured sculpted encaustic, gold wire, glass jars, gauze, tags 8 x 2 in each jar

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Four Seasons in Four Acre Plots Encaustic was the perfect ‘glue’ that made it possible to accomplish my growing interest in using found recyclable objects in my work. I became so excited and fascinated walking roads and byways to bring that next prized found object to my studio.

A large o -white scrubbing mitt picked up o the side of a road was one such prize. The textural piece had so many possibilities but it soon became clear: this was like growing shoots of grain, so evocative of the elds from my childhood farm

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I cut it up into 4 inch squares dipping it in wax, painting the bottom layer black for soil. I cut 16 basswood pieces the same size, and framed them in another piece of thin basswood. I glued in the waxed squares, attached four each to 9 inch boards. I cut the straight lines off dress pattern paper, another recycled material, and glued that around the edges to enhance the frames My idea had jelled into Four Seasons in Four Acre Plots each 20 x 20 inches that was selected for the Museum of Encaustic Art’s permanent collection Four Seasons in Four Acre Plots Encaustic, scrubbing mitt, dress pattern paper, basswood on cradle board 20 x 20 x 2 in each

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Another such Eureka moment was gazing at a ditch full of cast-o cigarette butts during a walk in Tucson. I immediately saw the nished piece in my head. What was I thinking? I ran home, retrieved a plastic bag and rubber gloves, and picked up 1,500 cigarette butts. I dipped each one in wax and smokedsmudged-side up, glued them in two 36 x three inch basswood frames.

I made a highway centerpiece using handmade paper, painting the highway’s dividing line down the middle with white wax batik and dipped in brown dye.

This particular Tucson highway had received funding for the Arizona Highway Beauti cation Project, and thus my title: Highway Beautification It was another one of my universal statements about saving our environment.

Highway Beautification Encaustic, cigarette butts, handmade paper, wax batik, dye, basswood 36 x 10 x 4 in Also featured on the back cover.

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Highway Beautification

A Symbiotic Relationship In 2014, I started using cardboard as the structural forms for many of my sculptures. I liked the idea of recycling this throwaway material by turning it into a beautiful object inspired by Jimmy Grashow’s cardboard art. Plus, it was so easy to cut into shapes and hot glue together. One such cardboard sculpture again became my raven as metaphor.

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I picked up the palm fronds that fell to the street in Tucson.

The wood from the ends of fronds was easily carved for the beak and legs, it was covered in textured wax, and the wings were added using the palm ber.

A Symbiotic Relationship Symbiotic: A mutualistic relationship where two organisms of different species “work together” with each benefiting from the relationship.

The base re ected that symbiotic relationship when I added hand-drawn buildings around the wooden base as the humans’ ‘nests.’ I then formed thin black-wire-shaped houses and incorporated them in the bird’s nest, which was made of paper wrapped wire painted sepia brown

All life on this planet has to figure out how to coexist with the loss of habitat from our growing industrial world.

We all are looking for that perfect safe nesting place; location… location… location.

A Symbiotic Relationship Textured encaustic, cardboard, carved palm fronds and fiber, paper wrapped wire on 2 x 9 in wood base 24 x 18 x 12 in

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When Women Were Birds I finally found a context to summarize a lifetime of environmental focus when I read Terry Tempest Williams’ book, When Women Were Birds. It led me to mythological stories about women growing wings and flying. I read another myth of ravens sitting on your shoulder to tell you the ancient stories, if we only stop and listen. My sculpture #1 included this raven This latest three-part series was a definite challenge! I knew I wanted the sculpture to be life-size. I started out with styrofoam heads, and while using many techniques and materials from former projects, I also added some new ones.

Along with recycled cardboard, I incorporated my homemade papiermâché made from running brown paper bags through a paper shredder. This became the perfect cohesive material that could be pressed with texture and/or painted with wax or shellac.

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Xeroxed Gampi paper was perfect for my black and white tree photos to use as embellishments.

To further an earthier, natural color scheme, I again used found objects – dyeing an old rope, crumpled brown paper, and adding wooden curtain rings – as an ornament for a unifying look.

Cutting thin strips off sheets of cork, I made an edge design with my wood burning tool for trim around the hats.

The big challenge came when I decided I wanted the sculpture to have a shellac/ wax burn texture!

One major hurdle was the way my pieces were constructed. How did I not ruin areas by starting a fire

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Aluminum foil was the answer. I carefully attached pieces of foil around each burn area to protect the other wax areas from melting or starting a fire. In the end, I had to lay the sculptures down, and as the shellac burned, I slowly turned them to avoid having the melting wax run off.

Miraculously it all worked!

This series was a work of love; pieces that reflected a lifetime of studio practice.

I was honored with Best of Show for When Women Were Birds i Metamorphosis Tubac Center of the Arts A national-juried exhibit in partnership with the International Encaustic Artists October 1 – November 15, 202

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“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.”

Terry Tempest Williams When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice

Next page, When Women Were Birds #1, #2, and #3 Encaustic, mixed media, cardboard, found objects Each is approx. 29 x 16 x 13 in 23

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Diane Kleiss was born in an Iowan Heartland community, where life was all about the land and the seeds. This heritage resulted in several art series over the years honoring that life-giving environment – Mother Earth After receiving a B.A. at Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids, MN, she continued at the University of Minnesota, Duluth and received a B.F.A. – K-12 Art Education degree and a minor in Art History. During that time, ve stimulating summers were spent taking weeklong workshops at the Grand Marais Art Colony in northern Minnesota, surrounded by likeminded artists and inspiring lake and wooded vistas, her art expanded and ourished. After graduation she taught grades 1-12 art for ve years at the Minnesota Cromwell School District. She also owned a resort for 20 years on a remote lake lled with nature’s bounty, further inspiring her environmental art focus In 1994, she moved to Tucson, AZ, trading rippling lakes for earthbound mountains lled with ancient rock surfaces. She became involved in several art organizations, also continuing to teach art in schools, art centers, and in her studio In 2008, she turned to painting and sculpting with beeswax, an ancient encaustic medium that she could pour, carve, and mold. Now directing more attention to her own studio practice, she began building a body of work and joining other encaustic groups to expand her techniques and knowledge of this medium. Her art evolved and this led to acceptance in exhibits around the U.S

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About the Autho

In 2013, she moved to an art-based community in Silver City, NM, another area with mountains, trails, and inspiring vistas. Each new space, landscape, and connection with eclectic artists have pushed her art in new directions In 2019, she received the Edwina Milner Women in the Arts Award, and in March 2020, she launched a retrospective at the Francis McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art at Western New Mexico University, Silver City.

NM. Her studio backs up to the hills and wilderness, where the ravens and deer visit her daily Ravens Nest - Adapting Cardboard, papier-mâché, copper pieces, cutout fashion clothes, Juniper branches 29 x 34 x 8 in

You can view Diane’s work a www.dianekleiss.com www.instagram.com/Raven2feet www.facebook.com/dakleiss Art Photos by Robin Stancliff, Tucson, AZ t

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Rime Cyanotype and encaustic on cradle board 12 x 12 x 2 in

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Printing with the Sun Preserving with Wax Michele Randall As a process-oriented artist, I have always been drawn to the materiality of printmaking. Cyanotype, often known as sun prints, provides an e cient way to capture an arrangement of objects, or photographs, for use in encaustic creations.

Cyanotype is a camera-less photographic process that creates distinctive Prussian-blue images using iron salts, sunlight, and water. It was developed in the 1800s by scientist John Herschel and put into its earliest practice by botanist, Anna Atkins. Her images of sea algae were the rst photographs used for scienti c categorization I’m drawn to the method for both the creation of images and the exibility of results. The cyanotype process is a bit like baking bread. A perfectly suitable loaf can be created with a bit of our, yeast, and water; but by varying ingredients, temperature, and time, you can get everything from a sour dough to a naan Encaustic wax is a natural partner to cyanotype. Like encaustic photography, the wax covers the image with an ethereal haze.

Each layer speaks to the element of time, obscuring the image further. Of course, the wax also provides a method of adhesion and a top layer for the addition of pan pastel, inks, and markmaking tools.

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Below, I’ve outlined an introduction to the cyanotype process. It should provide a foundation for this unique approach to image creation.

Materials List Chemical Materials • Ammonium Ferric Citrate* • Potassium Ferricyanide* • Water – distilled if possibl * Chemicals can be ordered through a photographic supply source or most art catalogue companies.

If you prefer to avoid mixing chemicals, you can buy both of the ingredients in liquid form.

Cyanotype Solution and Hake Brush

Additional Materials • Paper or other absorbent materia • Brus • Scal • Liquid Measuring Beake • Containers to hold solution • Gloves and mask are recommende

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Mixing Your Solution These cyanotype instructions will make enough to coat approximately 50 8 x 10 inch sheets 1. Using a scale, measure 25g of Ammonium Ferric Citrate, place it in the first beaker, and add water to bring it up to 100 ml.

2. Measure 10g of Potassium Ferricyanide and mix with water to make up to 100 ml.

Make sure both the chemicals are fully dissolved 3. Working in a dimly lit room, mix equal parts of both solutions together The solution is at its best if used immediately after mixed You are now ready to coat your paper

Coating Your Paper Coat the paper in a dimly lit, dry environment.

Use a foam or hake brush to evenly coat your paper with the cyanotype solution.

Allow your paper to dry in the dark. The solution becomes light sensitive as it dries

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Cyanotype solution will work on any absorbent material, such as rice paper, coffee filters, or watercolor sheets. Results with each will vary and provide opportunities for different creative directions.

Examples of objects to use with cyanotype include negatives/ transparencies, plants, lace, and stencils.

Results of various objects including feathers and doilies

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Designing and Exposing Print Place an object or photographic negative onto the prepared paper. I recommend objects with interesting shapes and outlines. This is why plants make such a perfect subject matter. Lace, cut stencils, transparencies, and negatives, make equally engaging images.

Details will be obscured by the wax, so it is best to think of cyanotype as a starting point to your creative layering and use elements with high contrast and distinct edges. Once your composition is set, place glass on top, and secure it with clips.

Use glass and clips to secure designs and place in the sun. In the winter months (as seen here), it will need to be exposed for a longer time.

Here is a print that’s been exposed in the sun. It has not yet been washed out in water.

The paper is exposed when placed in the sun or a UV light box. I prefer the sun. It’s free and doesn’t require space or maintenance.

The paper will begin to change color during exposure, from yellow green to a dark silvery blue. When this happens, it’s time to wash out your print.

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Washing Your Print The image can be fixed with plain water; no need for filtered or distilled water. It’s one of the reasons I like cyanotype so much.

Rinse your paper in water by submerging it in a tub until the blue solution washes clear. This fixes the paper and will stop the development process.

Once rinsed and dried, the paper will darken over the first few days.

Print has been rinsed in water and dried.

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Time to Add Wax Once your cyanotype is dry, it can be used like any other type of collage material. It can be torn, cut, and layered to provide elements to a collage work, or it can be used whole, similar to encaustic photographic material.

Rice paper is very absorbent and is a good choice for this process.

Begin by applying two layers of wax to your substrate. Lightly burnish your paper to the warm wax and then adhere with a tacking iron. Add additional layers on top, based on design preferences.

Use a tacking iron to adhere paper to substrate.

Paper adhered with a coat of wax.

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Pan pastel used to enhance image

Once the wax has hardened, you can use pan pastels, ink, and wax crayons to enhance the work.

Cyanotype is one more variable to add to your encaustic tool box.

Get out in the sun and make some images.

Gallery of cyanotype and encaustic images

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A Walk Among Flowers Cyanotype and encaustic on cradle board 8 x 8 x 2 in Flower girl Cyanotype and encaustic on cradle board 10 x 8 x 2 in 39

About the Autho Michele Randall lives in Pennsylvania and is in uenced by her natural surroundings and her love of travel. Her work considers the concept of boundaries, both physical and psychological. Living with the pandemic and becoming an “empty nester” has heightened these considerations.

She is drawn to artistic practices that are material and process driven. Michele grew up in a resourceful family among other “makers.” She graduated with an M.F.A. from Penn State with a specialization in printmaking and continues to incorporate ideas of replication and patternmaking in her work.

She is represented by the Roaring Artist Gallery, www.roaringartistgallery.com/michele-randall, an online website for female artists, and she also shows her work regularly in the Northeast. Her work as an instructor complements her studio practice, and she has taught as an adjunct instructor and workshop facilitator with adults and children. Her bucket list includes residencies along the coast of all the oceans You can view Michele’s work a michelerandallart.com www.instagram.com/michelerandallart

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Something Blue, Cyanotype and encaustic on cradle board, 8 x 10 x 2 in 41

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Avant-Garde in the 21st Century?

Catherine Walworth The term “avant-garde” summons an image of artists with pointy little beards and black turtlenecks, gesturing wildly through plumes of cigarette smoke while talking about art in cryptic ways. To say something is avant-garde often implies, “and that’s why you just don’t get it.” There is a reason why, though. It is actually a French military term meaning the advance guard that goes bravely ahead of the other troops to do reconnaissance or to lead into war. Avant-garde art, therefore, is ahead of the curve, radical even, created by experimenting outside the safety of traditional art.

While there have been rule-breaking artists peppered throughout art history, and those are the ones we remember most today, the term came into speci c use with modern European artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

When the notion of the artistic avant-garde appeared in the 19th century, it described those who were in a pitched battle speci cally with the Royal Academies. European countries like Italy, France, and England each had their own version of these o cial state-sponsored schools that trained painters, sculptors, and architects and launched their careers through exclusive juried Salons. This support also meant adhering to a strict hierarchy of artistic themes, with history painting at the top and still life at the bottom The Big Trees Paul Cézanne Oil on canvas 31.8 x 25.5 in National Galleries of Scotland

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Round- eshed naturalism and realistic spatial perspective, developed by Renaissance artists after a millennium of mostly medieval atness, was the only option. The most ambitious academic paintings were massive in scale, with piles of gures in grand historical scenes designed to win the artists medals, fame, and lucrative commissions from the Salon exhibitions.

After a few hundred years like this, there were rebels. In 1863, the Salon des Refusés took place in Paris, an exhibition of works that the o cial Salon jurors had rejected. Visitors went and laughed at paintings that now hang in major museums, such as Édouard Manet's Luncheon on the Grass. Some artists were not satis ed with the same old artistic formulas, and if their new work was rejected by the o cial Salon as sloppy, as happened with the burgeoning Impressionists in the 1870s, they held their own alternative exhibitions and created a new art movement. These experimental artists considered the Academy sti ing to their imaginations and unyielding in its ability to recognize the worth of what was admittedly radical about their art.

Around the turn of the century, artists were concerned with di erent things — rather than Greek myths and Biblical stories — many were interested in emerging socialism and the lives of the poor; formal experiments that de ed realism; and the realm of the spirit and mysticism. They looked to forms of global art, rst with Japanese woodcuts, and later with African, Iberian, and Paci c Islander sculpture, along with other preClassical or indigenous arts that were more abstracted, often made for ritual, and a far cry from than the Academies’ familiar tropes.

Several of these artists struggled for recognition in their own time, even from other artists

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The Bedroom (version 2) Vincent van Gogh, Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 5/8 in Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection The Art Institute of Chicago

Vincent Van Gogh is a prime example. The opposite of an academically trained painter, his best, most colorful paintings vibrate with a tonal range that is on a di erent frequency than most other art of the time, except that of his peers such as Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard. His inanimate chairs and landscapes have an undulating life force. Rather than hide his brushstrokes as academicians strived to do, he made them a subject of the painting, along with the poor and everyday people around him.

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Likewise, Paul Cézanne’s fractured brushstrokes built a ickering scrim of sensation over his landscapes. Without his example, it is possible Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque may not have created Cubism, the most in uential avant-garde movement of the 20th century. Taking café table still lifes as one of their main subjects, the duo also stood up abruptly and ipped the table on one-point perspective. Instead, their Analytical Cubist paintings have been compared to discussions of the fourth dimension.

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Riverbanks Paul Cézanne Oil on canvas, 25.6 x 31.9 in Private Collection

Thus emerged the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian’s oating grids with primary colors, black, white, and gray. However, this was not simply a formal rebellion. Mondrian, as with many of turn of the century avant-garde artists, was absorbing religious and metaphysical ideas and working toward a way to express them.

He spent years dancing a partnered push and pull with verticals and horizontals. He rst painted trees, seas, and still lifes until he broke through to pure nonobjectivity. He expressed, not how things looked, but how things nestled into the warp and weft of the fabric of the universe.

Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray Piet Mondrian Oil on canvas, 23 5/8 × 23 5/8 in Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., The Art Institute of Chicago

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They fractured space into a oating matrix of geometric shards that other avant-garde artists would then pass through and reinvent for themselves.

In the years before World War I, the Italian Futurists eulogized the automobile, speed, and the mechanistic nature of war.

Their fractured paintings were meant to capture the fast pace of modern life, and truly, the speed of technological change at the turn of the century has had no competitor. The Futurists screamed the need to burn down the museums and start all over. Be careful what you wish for, fellas, because the human nausea caused by the massive destruction of World War I led to the absurdity of Dada, which preferred chance as an artistic method – anything but the so-called rationalism that led to war machines Russian modernism gave birth to two factions of avant-garde artists – Constructivists and Suprematists. After working through the Russian combination of French Cubism and Italian Futurism (which they called Cubo-Futurism), Kazimir Malevich painted his “royal infant” – Black Square. Like Picasso and Mondrian, Malevich was not an inept painter. Rather, these artists were emptying out all illusionistic painting traditions, and for Malevich the result was as mystical and full as it was formal and stripped bare.

How then, one hundred years after the heyday of Dada and the birth of its even more fantastical o shoot Surrealism, do we de ne “avant-garde?” The further we get from the Academy and its powerfully tight grasp on o cial rules and opportunities, the further we get from the bravery of those original free radicals that are a de ning feature of modernism.

Experimentation in art continues, however, and refreshes art for its own time, but today there are no rules and everything is an option.

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Black Square Kazimir Malevich Oil on canvas 31.2 x 31.2 in The State Tretyakov Gallery Moscow, Russia 49

Encaustic, like other art forms besides photography and lm, is an ancient medium with its own history, traditions, and naughty rule breakers. It belongs in a conversation about the historical avant-garde art because it was there at the artists’ disposal, including the Swiss abstractionist Paul Klee, who built up the surface of several of his paintings with encaustic.

I would argue that after Abstract Expressionism of the 1940s and 1950s, there was no more avant-garde battling with entrenched academic tradition, and once-radical ideas were basically recycled into new movements and rebranded for the era. Encaustic made notable appearances, however, in art of later decades that are worth mentioning. In the late 1950s, Jasper Johns (whitney.org/exhibitions/jasper-johns) was a transitional bridge between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. He famously used encaustic so that his brushstrokes could be preserved in stasis, and the material gave an uncannily elegant nish to familiar images like the American ag. John Cage even claimed that when looking at Johns’ surfaces, he was in danger of falling in love A radical artist coming up in the 1960s, Lynda Benglis (www.locksgallery.com/artists/lynda-benglis) in many ways responded to the sterile geometry of Minimalism by becoming its alter ego. As a sculptor, she used audacious materials, including encaustic, latex, and foam, in candy colors to create works that were often body-like in form or nish. Those soft, sensual surfaces in unexpected shapes, sometimes poured directly on the oor with a nod to Jackson Pollock, also helped to question gender stereotypes and inequities in the art world.

And nally, encaustic remains a tool in the arsenal of artists today, and it is a coy shapeshifter in their experimental hands.

The works in this issue attest to the fact that, while encaustic has signature characteristics, it is not the material so much as the one who shapes it to their own ends.

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About the Autho In 2022, Catherine Walworth became the Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr. Curator of Drawings at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock, AR. Previously, she was Curator at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, where she shared her o -the-cu thoughts about artworks in storage in her Walworth Wednesday series. She received her Ph.D. in 2013 from the Ohio State University. Walworth loves modern art with everything she's got and she takes her humor seriously. She is the author of Soviet Salvage: Imperial Debris, Revolutionary Reuse, and Russian Constructivism (2017), so she can't help mentioning Malevich's Black Square whenever possible.

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Deconstructing Perfection Barb Cone The Playtime store in Arlington, MA, just outside Cambridge, is frozen in time. I doubt much has changed since the 1950s Customers are expected to step over open boxes and squeeze past stacks of mystery supplies, but the basement is where the real treasures are to be found: feathers in little cellophane packages, ribbons and notions, popsicle sticks, little wooden discs in di erent sizes, silk owers, Styrofoam, small glittery beads, and my personal favorite,

Kraft paper boxes with lids.

I’ve never gured out what people use them for or make from them, but they come in di erent sizes and are well-made, sturdy, and cheap. The selection depends on the day you’re looking I started collecting them a few years ago because I liked them as objects. I would add to my stash now and then, and they lived in their big Playtime plastic bags under my worktable.

Several times I tried to make something from them. I tried burying them in deep pours on my panels and created 3D collages with them, but I wasn’t happy with the results In the meantime, I made other work, hoping that some way of using the boxes would occur to me Fusion of Work and Dream No. 3, detail Fir, hardware, Velcro, cardboard, steel wire, rust

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In time, I created an installation of gessoed and sanded boxes and lids pierced with twine and wax thread. I installed these small pieces with the twine cascading down the wall below them. In a gallery setting, the boxes looked small and humble, and I hope, interesting.

I gessoed and painted some of the crushed boxes with encaustic. I discovered that the highly irregular surfaces were resistant to being painted in this way. The melted wax would often run down the sides and pool on the worktable. Fusing material on cardboard was also a challenge. Setting the crushed boxes on re was not, I knew, a good idea

C•artifacts Encaustic Sculpture No. 1 Encaustic, cardboard 13 x 3.5 x 3 in

C•artifacts Encaustic Sculpture No. 2 Encaustic, cardboard 23.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 in

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C•artifacts Rust No. 1 Rust, cardboard 10 x 10 x 3 in

C•artifacts Rust Sculpture No. 1 Rust, cardboard 10 x 10.5 x 5 in 55

I’d nally gured out how to work with some of the boxes from Playtime, but I still had bags and bags of them left over. I hauled them up to my Maine studio one summer, hoping for inspiration

The sticking point for me was that they were just too damn perfect as they were.

Well-made, in that lovely paper bag color, the tops tting perfectly… it was a case of “how can I possibly improve on perfection?” — often an issue with incorporating found objects once you fall in love with them They were taking up precious space in my cramped Maine studio when I looked up and saw my car parked outside the door. I grabbed my keys, tossed a few of the boxes onto the drive, and the rest is history. I ran over boxes in Maine and then in my Massachusetts driveway, asking at some point for my husband to video the process.

You can view RUNNING STUFF OVER WITH MY CAR! at www.bconeart.com/work#/workshops-1-2-3/ The boxes complained as they went under the wheels, popping and groaning. After a while the lovely boxes were lovely no more.

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Fusion of Work and Dream No. 2 Fir, hardware, Velcro, cardboard, steel wire, spray paint 25 x 64 x 24 in

They were slightly gritty after being run over, but in the process of being crushed by a car, they were transformed into 3D, unpredictable abstract shapes. I had no control over how they looked after being crushed, and I had to gure out how to use them just as they were

Fusion of Work and Dream No. 3 Fir, hardware, Velcro, cardboard, steel wire, rust 29 x 69 x 24 in

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I began by experimenting with altering the surfaces of the crushed pieces. About a third of them were spray-painted, another third coated with rust, and the last coated with gesso and hand-sanded to create patterns and marks on the surface.

Using a wooden plank for support, I started attaching the crushed cardboard boxes, building large constructions intended to be hung from the ceiling.

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Fusion of Work and Dream No. 1 Fir, hardware, Velcro, cardboard, steel wire, gesso, graphite 30 x 14 x 14 in

Then using some shapes from the crushed boxes that I earlier had traced onto paper, I transferred the drawings to 36 x 36 inch panels I had prepared by doing a base pour of encaustic medium. Using the paper shapes as templates, I then carved into the pour and pressed oil stick into the grooves, creating a thick, deep line

Self Contained No. 2 Encaustic, oil stick, cradled birch panel 36 x 36 x 1.5 in Self Contained No. 3 Encaustic, oil stick, cradled birch panel 36 x 36 x 1.5 in

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The panels were hung on the walls in and around the ceilinghung constructions during my solo gallery show in Boston at the Brom eld Gallery in the Fall of 2020

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Since I was a small girl following my amateur archaeologist father around in the desert hunting for arrowheads and pieces of pottery, I’ve been interested in the ancient arts of indigenous peoples. In Hawaii and the Southwest, I visited rock carving sites, nding each of the gures unique and powerful.

When I got back from one of these trips, spirit gures seemed to want to come into being in my studio. It felt odd but I went with it. I didn’t know how to make them or what they would look like but as the ideas coalesced, I started to gather materials: carving foam, wooden dowels, paper clay, rusting compound, and encaustic. One after the other, the gures came into being; then one day the ideas abruptly stopped coming and I was done with them. Some of gures appeared in a series of encaustic prints I was making at the same time. The melted wax seemed to ow and gather to produce its own imagery.

I’m not much for “woo-woo” stu , as a friend calls it, but in the making of those gures and prints, I felt like I was enabling those ancient spirits to travel outside the spirit realm and come into our world from wherever they may reside Pathfinder Encaustic, carving foam, paper clay, rust, wooden dowel 17.5 x 4 x 4 in

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Top left painting, Tall Walkers Encaustic, oil stick, Washi paper 20 x 24.5 x .5 in

Left sculpture, Beacon Encaustic, carving foam, paper clay, rust, wooden dowel, 19 x 9 x 4 in

Bottom left painting, Messenger Encaustic, oil stick, Washi paper 19 x 22.5 x .5 in

Middle sculpture, Elder Encaustic, carving foam, paper clay, rust, wooden dowel, 22 x 16 x 4 in

Top right painting, Red Hawk Encaustic, oil stick, Washi paper 20 x 29 x .5 in

Right sculpture, Gatekeeper Encaustic, carving foam, paper clay, rust, wooden dowel, 22 x 16 x 4 in

Also featured on the Content page.

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For Improvisations, another solo show at the Brom eld Gallery in Boston last March, I constructed free-standing pieces from bits and pieces of gessoed balsa and basswood, using a sander for mark making on the various components. In addition to these constructions, eight large, doubled-layered drawings hung on the walls. The digital drawings, on Hahnemuhle paper under photo-based clear overlays, borrowed imagery from the constructions It may be because everything feels pretty broken these days that I continue to work with humble, often damaged, materials, but then again it may be because humble, broken, or damaged materials are simply more interesting Construct No. 3 Balsa and basswood, gesso, hardware 21 x 13 x 8 in

Construct No. 1 Balsa and basswood, gesso, hardware 25 x 13 x 7

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About the Autho A transplant from California, Barb has lived in New England since the early 1990s. When asked why she left, she explains she loves trees. Where she grew up, she thought only rich people could have trees. Of course, it’s not quite that simple, but close enough.

During one visit to New Mexico, she took a class in encaustic printmaking taught by Paula Roland. When she returned home, she was unsure how to proceed next, and the materials sat on a shelf for a while. Later, several artist friends expressed an interest in encaustic, and Barb dug out her materials to teach a weekend workshop. After the workshop ended, she wanted to learn more about encaustic, and she signed up for a beginning class taught

by Tracy Spadafora.

She found encaustic quite challenging. Barb sought other instruction and attended the IEA Conference in Massachusetts to learn as much as she could. Encaustic is by far the most versatile of any of the media she has worked with. It lends itself to her intuitive, experimental style of making art. The techniques, textures, unusual surfaces, and substrata are endless Barb’s work has been in galleries and museums in New Zealand, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, ME, and Boston, where she is represented by the Brom eld Gallery in SOWA, Boston’s Art District. In 2011, she was co-Founder of MassWax, IEA’s New England chapter. In 2016, she received IEA’s La Vendéenne Award for Artistry and was one of the featured artists in Encaustic Art in the 21st Century, Schi er Publishing You can view Barb’s work a www.bconeart.com www.facebook.com/BarbConeArt

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Rebecca Stevenson Searching for the avant-garde in contemporary wax and encaustic artmaking is challenging and subjective. Although the term “avant-garde” was originally applied to innovative approaches to art making in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, it is applicable to all art that pushes the boundaries of ideas and creativity and is still used today to describe art that is radical or re ects originality of vision Rebecca Stevenson’s work can be shocking in its juxtaposition of content within masterfully-modeled structure. In this interview, the artist explains her intent and in uences and shares her processes with Wax Fusion readers We’d like to open with a quote from the catalogue of your recent solo exhibition, Bacchanale, at the James Freeman Gallery in London: “Stevenson’s specialism is wax, an ancient but often overlooked sculptural medium. The history of wax is deep, from the lost wax processes used in bronze sculpture dating back to the Egyptians in antiquity and its use in the creation of death masks since Roman times, through to the wax portrait pictures of the 16th and 17th centuries, and as a medium for anatomical models from the 17th century onwards ... In all instances, wax is related to the body and to the ephemerality of esh…

There is a Spell in Every Sea-shell Wax and polyester resin 46 x 35 x 30 cm Also featured on the front cover.

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Has wax been a major component of your sculptural practice from the beginning? How/why did you choose it?

Yes, I began working in wax early in my student days, attracted by its translucent and visceral qualities. I quickly came to appreciate its immediacy and versatility as a medium.

Later, I started to research the history of wax in sculpture and this fed my fascination. I was inspired by the virtuosity of the Italian anatomical wax modelers of the 17th century and made pilgrimages to Florence and Bologna to see their work.

My early practice was centered on the human body, and I remain enthralled by the privileged relationship of wax to esh.

It has been the medium of choice for ‘body doubles’ of all kinds – from funereal e gies to votive body parts to Madame Tussaud’s. I think it’s this which gives wax its special uncanny quality

Folie Anglaise Wax and polyester resin 65 x 49 x 40 cm

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Coralline, Front and Reverse Wax and polyester resin 63 x 38 x 30 cm

Coralline, Details Wax and polyester resin

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I revel in complexity and ambivalence, and these are exactly the kind of the reactions I’m hoping to elicit! Wax plays a crucial role in generating both attraction and repulsion – it mimics all kinds of materials so perfectly ( owers, fruits, or foodstu s), while also embodying that lovely eshy uncanniness. It’s the perfect medium to ‘get under the skin’ of the viewer. Many of my works resemble confectionery. I enjoy the idea that looking at these works might trigger a sensory as well as an aesthetic response – a play on the idea of (good and bad) ‘taste.

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It’s fascinating to see the contradictory terms that people use to describe your work – “sweet and sinister” - “attract and repel” – “decoration and decay”- “figurative and surreal.” Even though your work often references the Dutch painters who juxtaposed dead animals with fruit and flowers, somehow viewers find your sculptures more shocking, perhaps because wax can reproduce the objects so perfectly in three dimensions. How do you feel about these complex reactions, and how would you like viewers to respond to your work?

In a video interview, you were asked about the relationship between art, craft, and sculpture as those labels pertain to your work. Often artists who work in wax struggle with those terms.

Could you talk a little more about that?

I describe what I do as sculpture, that’s where my practice is grounded. But I also have a strong relationship to craft - my processes, techniques, and relation to materials are deeply personal and key to the development of my pieces. I use traditional sculpture techniques such as modelling in clay, but when I come to create the still life elements of the work — pigmenting wax and composing the owers, fruit, and other elements — my process is more like that of a painter. In a sense my practice sits at the intersection between these three.

Currently, I’m seeing a crossover from the craft scene to the art world, with artists working in textiles or ceramics (for example) highly visible in contemporary art spaces. The de nitions of ‘art’ and ‘craft’ are becoming more uid. But there is still a desire to categorize artists and makers according to these terms, and there can be snobbery or preconceptions around this, which is frustrating

Rapture Wax and polyester resin 45 x 50 x 50 cm

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Medusa, Front and Reverse Wax and polyester resin 55 x 25 x 25 cm 74

The theme for our Spring 2022 issue is “avant-garde,” and we are inviting artists to explore “What is avant-garde in the 21st Century?” and share their most avant-garde art, techniques, and materials.

As applied to art, avant-garde means art that is innovatory, introducing, or exploring new forms or subject matter. From your perspective, what is avant-garde in the 21st Century?

There’s such diversity in contemporary practice that in some ways the term ‘avant-garde’ itself seems out of date. There’s no clear trajectory or narrative where one clearly-de ned art movement is succeeded by another - that belongs to art history.

Many people associate the avant-garde with the digital, be that NFTs or artworks created on or by computers. For me, however, the true avant-garde has got to be the place where the digital can’t go. If our world is to be run by AIs, we need our art to speak to what remains irredeemably human. In this sense, the dance between mastery and accident that happens when a painter picks up her brush — or a sculptor presses a piece of soft wax in her hand — can represent something both avant-garde and timeless

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Finally, we would love to know a bit more about your processes.

You’ve generously offered to share a bit of that with us. Tell more!

I use many processes in my work and I’m always experimenting! But here’s a brief overview: I usually begin by modelling my subject in clay, for example, an animal or portrait bust. At this stage the form is intact and does not have any decoration or detail. When the clay sculpture is complete, I take a mould from it using silicone rubber. I then cast the sculpture in layers of pigmented wax reinforced with polyester resin.

Once the sculpture is demoulded, I move to the second stage of the process, a kind of ‘unmaking.’ I make cuts in the piece and peel back the layers, creating ‘wounds’ or cavities. I then create elaborate cornucopias of owers and fruits in these internal spaces. Fruits are sometimes cast and sometimes modelled; owers made from poured sheets of wax. I like the interplay of elements cast from nature and others that are invented, and I also enjoy working very spontaneously with the wax at this stage, maybe also applying molten wax with a brush, tearing and folding wax sheets, allowing the generation of unexpected forms and juxtapositions

Melancolia Wax and polyester resin 103 x 53 x 46 cm

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About the Artis Rebecca Stevenson is a British artist who studied sculpture at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London.

She has been making and exhibiting wax sculpture for over 20 years Stevenson’s solo exhibitions include: Bacchanale at James Freeman Gallery, London; Fantasia at Van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne; Tempting Nature at Mogadishni, Copenhagen; Exquisite Corpse at DomoBaal Contemporary Art, London Recent group exhibitions include: Centuries in the Making at Bonhams, London and Compton Verney, Warwickshire.; Artists’ Conquest at Pillnitz Palace and Museum of Applied Arts, Dresden; So Beautiful It Hurts at James Freeman Gallery, London; B.A.R.O.C.K. at Caputh Palace, Potsdam, and ME Collectors Room, Berlin Stevenson’s works are held in the Olbricht Collection, the Maramotti (Maxmara) Collection, and the Kraft Collection, as well as in numerous private collections internationally. Her work has been featured in print and online publications including Ateliers d’Art, Colossal, and Hi Fructose.

Rebecca Stevenson lives and works in London You can view Rebecca’s work a www.rebeccastevenson.net www.instagram.com/rebeccastevensonsculpture Photos by Marianne Wie www.mariannewie.net www.instagram.com/marianne_wie

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ConVergence An International Encaustic Artists 2022 Juried Exhibition Russell Gallery Art Center Morro Bay 835 Main St, Morro Bay, CA 93442 April 7, 2022 – May 23, 2022 Convergence is the act of separate entities coming together to create something new – a uni ed whole. Convergence happens when knowledge and methods from varied disciplines and cultures come together to spur new thoughts and innovations.

In a tumultuous era when we can feel divided from one another physically, emotionally, culturally, and politically, the idea of convergence represents hope. fi

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We invited artists to consider and interpret the idea of convergence and submit their work to our juried show being held in conjunction with our ConVergence retreat in Morro Bay. We received entries from 90 artists who submitted more than 200 art pieces for the show. And our juror, Pamela Smith Hudson, selected 46 pieces that spoke to the theme. When asked about the exhibition and her selection process, she stated the following “Convergence in art is de ned when parallel lines connect to a point, creating a sense of depth. Convergence can also mean a gathering of people. People who come from di erent places, have di erent backgrounds, perspectives, ideas, and values.This juried exhibit brings the art and the artists together to the beautiful coastal town of Morro Bay. The use of encaustic in art is not unlike the great Morro Rock – ancient yet still visible and relevant in today’s contemporary society. ff

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“The past three years has brought us a once in a century pandemic. It has created a divergence of self isolation, both physically and mentally. Here now, we come together to celebrate and explore creations made from encaustic and cold wax mediums The process of selecting work for the exhibit was based on technique, palette, and its connection to the theme. The pieces range from expressive and geometric abstraction to landscapes, photography, portraits, representational, and sculpture. The subject of many pieces range from climate change, social injustice, and dealing with the pandemic. I was touched by the artists’ stories and about nding their voice and motivation to overcome health issues, traumas, and feelings of isolation to create their work for submission.

I applaud all the artists who submitted work, and I thank IEA for the opportunity to jury the wonderful art for this exhibit.”

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Pamela Smith Hudson is a Los Angeles-based mixed media artist. Her interest in encaustic painting began while working in the art material industry. Smith Hudson joined Enkaustikos as an instructor in 2012. She has a long affiliation with Ampersand Art Supply and recently became a part of the Ampersand Artist Ambassadors program. She has been teaching encaustic painting at Los Angeles California Museum of Art and Otis Art and Design Extension program for the last eight years. Smith Hudson previously juried the Buenaventura Open Encaustic Competition in 2015. She has collaborated with the Broad Museum on an encaustic educational video in conjunction with the Jasper Johns Retrospective Exhibition. She was also involved in collaborating with the Getty Museum on an educational, historical perspective on encaustic painting You can view Pamela’s work a www.pamelasmithhudson.com www.facebook.com/ PamelaSmithHudsonArt www.instagram.com/pamsmithhudson You can view an online gallery of the exhibition at convergenceiea.weebly.com

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The La Vendéenne Awards The La Vendéenne Awards were established in 2012 by International Encaustic Artists to recognize artists or groups who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement and practice of encaustic art. The awards are named in honor of a 4th Century female encaustic artist, whose buried remains were found, along with the tools of her encaustic art, in the La Vendée region of France. This anonymous woman is known as La Vendéenne, and the International Encaustic Artists’ award that supports their mission of “raising the level of excellence in fine art encaustic work” is named in her honor.

Portrait of a young man Wax, egg, oil on lime wood, AD 80-120 84

Portrait of a woman Encaustic on lime wood, AD 55-70

The spectacular sunset view of Morro Rock created an almost mystical atmosphere at the La Vendéenne Awards Dinner at Windows on the Water Restaurant. ConVergence retreat attendees from around the world came together to celebrate the achievements of two extraordinary contributors to the encaustic arts community.

The assembled encaustic luminaries and enthusiasts cheered as the La Vendéenne Award was presented to two individuals who have helped de ne contemporary encaustic art. IEA Grants Director Melissa Lackman presented an Outstanding Contribution Award to author, artist, and international instructor Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch. Trish is known worldwide for her long-time impact on the medium of encaustic. In her twenty-plus years working with this medium, she has focused her energies toward making this di cult medium accessible to more artists. In her acceptance speech, she talked about her passion for encaustics and her determination to be an advocate for the medium and its possibilities. She also acknowledged the contributions of fellow awardee Lora Murphy, who came to the retreat from Ireland Lora was awarded an Outstanding Contribution Award for increasing international recognition and respect for encaustic as a ne art through her Painting With Fire masterclass. This program brought together 2000 global students this year to learn high-quality encaustic techniques from 26 of the world’s top encaustic instructors. Lora expressed appreciation for the groundwork Trish has laid and said that she cherished her “encaustic tribe.

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Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch International Encaustic Artists 2022 La Vendéenne Awards

Outstanding Contribution Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch began working with encaustic in the mid-1990s and introduced the world art community to encaustic through her instructional books and her work as an educator. Her first book, Encaustic Workshop, and two subsequent videos, was published by Northlight Press in 2009. She went on to publish four highly successful instructional books that fueled interest in the medium worldwide. And she continued to nd ways to Reach More, Teach More, Inspire More, the mantra she embodies daily. She has a passion for inspiring others and her love for the medium of encaustic translates into her teaching.

Patricia is known for her explorations of foundations and mark making. As a consultant and featured instructor for Enkaustikos, she curated a line of personal colors. Her early work with art educators and retail markets led her to create EncaustiKits in 2010 as a way to make encaustic accessible. She expanded the concept to include technique-based video instruction along with materials in 2016

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In 2010, Patricia opened the doors to EncaustiCamp, an annual week-long encaustic retreat for artists at all levels. This immersive experience is held annually the last week of July, on the shores of Puget Sound, WA. It is attended by artists throughout the world.

And she expanded the experience of EncaustiCamp into biannual international camps in Australia, New Zealand and Bali.

While teaching abroad in Australia, she worked with local manufacturers and international suppliers to bring encaustic materials to the continent.

She was instrumental in introducing the international art community to encaustics and bringing Enkaustikos and R&F Paints to that market In 2015, Patricia moved to Lexington, KY where she purchased and began renovations on an 1880 castle. EncaustiCastle hosts artists’ studios, Artist-in-Residency opportunities, and regularly scheduled group retreats Since 2014, she has mounted eight solo shows in prestigious galleries in the United States and Australia, including the Francis Keevil Gallery in Sydney, Australia. Her work is included in numerous corporate collections including the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, SAFECO Corporation of Seattle, WA, and the City of Albany, Albany in Western Australia Listen to Your Life: An Immersion into Intuitive Abstract Painting Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch ConVergence Workshop

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Lora Murphy International Encaustic Artists 2022 La Vendéenne Awards

Outstanding Contribution Lora Murphy’s impact on the world community of artists and the introduction to encaustic has been truly extraordinary When the pandemic brought all inperson instruction to a full stop and left artists and teachers stranded in their studios, Lora created the online Painting with Fire encaustic masterclass and single-handedly raised the pro le of encaustic instructors while providing signi cant nancial support for the School at Mulranny. In the past year, 2000 students have joined this wonderful program along with 26 of the best encaustic teachers in the world Lora is continuing Essence of Mulranny’s programming and the online 2022/23 Painting with Fire program started in April 2022.

To learn more about this amazing program, go t www.essenceofmulranny.com

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Lora Murphy was born in Ireland and educated in Ireland, U.S., and Italy. Trained as an oil painter, she now works primarily in Encaustic and mixed media. Lora teaches workshops in contemporary portraiture in encaustic throughout the world and online In 2018, Lora became the Director of the Essence of Mulranny Art School in Mulranny Co Mayo on the wild west coast of Ireland.

Here she has developed an international program and brought together teachers and students from all over the world Lora brings a warm, personal touch to her role as Director and in all her actions she demonstrates a philosophy of professional cooperation — not competition — among artists. She has enhanced knowledge, passion and pride for encaustic as a ne art among students and instructors at all stages of their artistic careers

The Gift, Lora Murphy demo ConVergence - Wax on the Water Photo by Barbara Sitar

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An Intimate Encaustic Retreat by the Bay There was something joyous and magical about ConVergence Wax on the Water. When you walked through the patio gate, you entered a safe haven, one where artists gathered to learn, share, and heal. Old friends embraced, friends who met online nally got to meet face-to-face, and artists could meet their heroes in person: Artists like Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch, who, through her workshops and instructional books, introduced many of us to this ancient and versatile medium, and Lora Murphy, who provided us incredible online learning opportunities with some of the best teachers in the world so we could all paint with re while we were alone in our studios We met in Morro Bay, a small coastal community located on the Central Coast of California, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It is a beautiful place lled with miles of unspoiled beaches, nature trails, and estuaries. Also, there is the worldfamous Morro Rock — an old and ancient place where the Chumash settled thousands of years ago and where the Salinan

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ConVergence — Wax on the Water

Tribe has been climbing to the top of Morro Rock twice a year, each summer and winter solstice for centuries to perform religious ceremonies. Both tribes consider Morro Rock to be a sacred site, and we honored them and the sacred land where we met We also immersed ourselves in the local cuisine. At the meet and greet, we enjoyed wine from several of the local wineries and beer from a local brewery. House of Bread catered our breakfasts and lunches, providing a wide variety of local favorites that included gluten free and vegetarian choices. And we celebrated our La Vendéenne Award recipients at Windows on the Water, where we had a 180 degree view of the bay and watched the sun set behind Morro Rock As we all gathered together in one space, each of the instructors and presenters shared the secrets of their special alchemy, taught us new techniques and tools, led us through creative and healing exercises, and welcomed us into this inclusive community of wax artists.

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Many of the presenters shared free online instructional material. To view the online materials and an inspiring ve minute recap video of the retreat, exhibition, and the La Vendéenne Awards dinner, go to www.international-encausticartists.org/Convergence-2022-Retreat-Recap Videos of the ConVergence retreat presentations and demonstrations are also available online for attendees and IEA members. To view the videos online, go to www.internationalencaustic-artists.org/Convergence-Retreat-presentations and sign in using your IEA member login.

To become a member of IEA, go to www.international-encausticartists.org/JoinIEA You can also view the New Times article Wax and paint converge into art from international artists at Art Center Morro Bay

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Presenters & Instructors Your support for IEA’s ConVergence: Wax on the Water Retreat & Workshops is greatly appreciated by our community of artists who work with wax

Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch Seeing with New Eye Listen to Your Life: An Immersion into Intuitive Abstract Paintin

Shary Bartlett Favorite Things: Alcohol Inks, Water-soluble wax paints, fun tools, and other encaustic delight

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Lyn Belisl A Lotus from the Mud: Recycling and Book Makin Postcards from the Verge: A Mixed Media Workshop for Every Creative Voyage

Michelle Belt Authentic Art: Creating from the Inside Out Found Objects: Creating a Cabinet of Curiositie

S. Kay & Gerry Burnet A Gargoyle in Paris: Creating 3-Dimensional Whimsical Characters

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Karen Karlsson R&F Pigment Sticks from Start to Prin

Megan MacDonald Exploring Visual and Physical Texture Introduction to Encaustic Painting: Creating Visual & Physical Dimension in Wa

Lora Murph The Gift

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Michele Randall Cyanotype an Encaustic Fusion Dem Cyanotype and Encaustic Fusio

Caryl St. Ama R&F Pigment Sticks: What, When, How, Why R&F Pigment Sticks from Start to Prin

Dietlind Vander Schaa Layers, Translucency, and See Through

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IEA Retreat Sponsors & Donors Thank you for supporting IEA’s Convergence: Wax on the Water Retreat & Workshops With your extraordinary paints

Your generous gift certificates

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Your inspiring books

And your unparalleled artists’ supplies

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IEA on Social Media We take great joy in shining a spotlight on IEA members’ work through our active and vibrant presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest Our goals are to • highlight and celebrate the work and accomplishments of IEA members • announce new opportunities • engage and educate people about encaustic arts; an • foster a sense of community among encaustic artists Have you shared your current social media handles with us? We suggest that you log into your IEA profile to check that your social media info is up-to-date. We also ask members to grant us permission to share their work by signing a terms of usage permission form Through our @iea_encaustic account, we regularly share work of artists who have granted us their permission. With more than 3,500 followers, our posts get lots of attention and interaction We also invite members to tag us in their posts. Use these two hashtags whenever you post #iea_encaustic #internationalencausticartists You can also follow these hashtags to see lots of inspirational posts by other artists working in wax.

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Instagram www.instagram.com/iea_encaustic/

Images courtesy IEA Artists. All rights reserved.

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Share Your Work, IEA! Join our new Facebook group and share your works and worksin-progress to get feedback from the IEA community of artists.

Be sure to share your insights and suggestions with other IEA members, too. Search for "Share Your Work, IEA!" and join.

Need help? Email socialmedia@international-encaustic-artists.org

Pinterest

Facebook

www.pinterest.com/ ieaencaustic/

www.facebook.com/ international.encaustic.artists

Be sure to visit us on Pinterest and Facebook.

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It Takes a Team!

As an all-volunteer organization, it takes a team to create and sustain our social media presence We feel privileged to have a truly international social media team coordinated by Social Media Director, Regina Quinn, with members from across Canada, Europe, and the United States, including Emma Ashb Peter Blackmor Joe Cell Cindy Clar Alison Fullerto Sally Hootnic JuliAnne Jonke Deni Karpowic Birgit Kentra

Gina Louthian-Stanle Ursi Lysse Megan MacDonal Barb Mizi Judy Picket Caryl St. Am Melissa Stephen Trudie Wolkin

Become an IEA Member IEA supports the growth and advancement of artists at all stages of their careers and provides opportunities and resources within a global community. This past year, IEA provided 12 conference scholarships, 1 artist residency, 4 Emerging Artist grants, 4 Project grants, 5 Art Heals grants, and exhibition opportunities. Artists at all levels are welcome to join www.international-encaustic-artists.org/JoinIEA

Questions? Need help getting started with social media?

Email us at socialmedia@international-encaustic-artists.org.

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Avant-Garde in the 21st Century Avant-garde art pushes the boundaries of ideas and creativity and is often used to describe art that is radical.

But it also applies to art that reflects an originality of vision that is innovative or explores new forms or subject matter.

A digital publication of International-Encaustic-Artists.org 108

Spring, Issue VI:2022 Avant-Garde in the 21st Century