Encaustic Conference

I just got back on Monday from the 6th International Encaustic Conference, hosted by Joanne Mattera and Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill.  There were loads of informative talks and demos by very experienced and knowledgeable artists, and tons of art to see.  Fourteen galleries in Provincetown had shows related to the conference, some curated by conference presenters and attendees.  Really fabulous stuff.  If you go to the Encaustic Conference blog (link above), check out all the blogs, websites, and resources in the right margin.  I can't begin to choose which art and artists to show you here, as there were so many fabulous ones.  But I will just pick a few.

Tracy Spadafora gave a great demo on getting maximum optical and physical depth in encaustic. 

Spill, 2010, encaustic, collage, & oil on braced wood panel, 12 x 12 inches

Lynda Ray demonstrated the use of stencils and the "accretion" technique, both of which can be used to create deep texture.

Scuttle, encaustic on panel, 18"x24"

Toby Sisson gave a talk on the art of critique, urging us to use more descriptive language rather than value-laden language when critiquing artwork.  Being a teacher and online workshop instructor, this was particularly helpful to me.  She gave us ideas about asking questions and raising issues rather than "liking" a piece or labeling it "good" or "bad". 

Garden of Secrets, encaustic monotype on paper mounted on panel, 16"x28"

Sherrie Posternak, I discovered, had been involved with PaperWorks in Tucson, where I will be teaching in January 2013.  She does really interesting work in encaustic on paper, fabric, and cotton quilt batting, in addition to wood panel.

Wall + Street, encaustic and photo transfer on panel, 34"x24"

I could go on and on posting images of gorgeous work from websites of people I met at the conference.  I'll list just a few more:  Nancy Natale's Art in the Studio blog; Gregory Wright, who curated a show called "Pollination"; Laura Moriarty, who works at R&F Paints and gave a talk on how to fund your work; Kim Bernard, who curated one of the encaustic shows at last year's conference and offers encaustic retreats in Maine. OK, you get the idea. 

I will be teaching Plaster and Wax at Art Unraveled in Phoenix on August 6, and also at Art and Soul in Portland, OR, on October 2.  I will be teaching Introduction to Encaustics at Art and Soul as well on the evening of October 2.  I'm offering Paper and Wax: Encaustic Collage at the Guilford Art Center in Guilford CT on October 13 - 14.

Thanks for visiting!