Art Exchange

I'm honored to belong to a Coaching Group that meets monthly. We are ten professional artists  working hard to find our place in the industry. We spend hours researching, sharing and discovering all sorts of areas of business practice. Our disciplines vary from painting, to fiber, to sculpture, to collage etc.,  but we all are passionate about and dedicated to what we make.

Tonight's meeting will be an art exchange. We created at least 9, 8x8 pieces of work, each of which will be exchanged for an artwork from each of the other group members. In the end we'll have a collection that we can hang together or separately to represent our array of talents.

These are details from some of the pieces I'll be trading tonight. They are encaustic relief images of ordinary objects that are treated with bronze paint, patina and more wax. I had a blast creating these and can't wait to see how they hang with everyone else's.

More Wax

And the fun continues...

Below is a 1-part silicone mold of a face.
Watch it develop as the wax cools.

Here it is out of the mold before being trimmed and

melted into the panel.

A collection of natural wax reliefs on 5x5 wood panels.

And what a mess I've made of my new space!

65 degrees

I'm honored to be a participant of this encaustic show at Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. I am in amazing company with 19 other wonderful encaustic artists.

This show enabled me to expand on the INDEX installation. The curator, Leika Akiyama, asked if INDEX was available and when it wasn't we set to task on a smaller adaptation.

INDEX is currently installed at Wheaton College in the show THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE. It consists of 198 objects and encaustic tiles arranged in a formal grid and numbered to correspond to a library card catalog. The installation planned for 65˙ will have 80-100 additional objects and encaustic tiles that will pick up and continue from number 199. They will also be arranged in a grid and have corresponding cards in a small file box. The name of this installation will be APPENDIX. 

INDEX at Wheaton College, The Order of the Universe

Both APPENDIX and INDEX are arrays of everyday items loaded with accumulated experiences and associations. Arranged in a grid, there's a level of seriousness and order, with chronologically numbered panels and a corresponding card catalog of definitions. These same panels are paired with random phrases from a Victorian word game, placed to puzzle us and throw all meanings into flux - the actual, the perceived and the ridiculous - they reconfigure context and set the stage for new relationships.

I'm looking forward to this exhibition and reception. The installation will be unique to this very intimate space. It's always great to meet new artists and view beautiful art. Here there will be opportunities for all of the above.

Morphology

Today we installed MORPHOLOGY at Fountain Street Fine Art. The process always starts out being very overwhelming and confusing but today it ended up looking like poetry. Kay's broad array of encaustics create a magical backdrop to my tactile sculptures. Also, Kay's new encaustic orbs add the perfect whimsy to connect it all. 

Come by and see for yourself! Kay happens to be gallery sitting this Thursday, May 23, from 2-5 pm.

MORPHOLOGY

Two mixed media artists explore the patterns
and structures of the biological world.

May 23-June 23 2013

Fountain Street Fine Art

Reception: June 8, 5-7 pm

Artist Talk: June 14, 7:30 pm

b - i - o - l - o - g - y

VAULT, detail - 15x8.5x11 in. - Encaustic, cradled panel, rusted hinge and felted wool

Or better still - MORPHOLOGY - a two person show with Kay Hartung at Fountain Street Fine Art in Framingham from May 23 -June 23 2013. Looking forward to experience the chemistry that happens between my organic sculptures and Kay's cellular renditions. Installing next week. Opens May 23.

VAULT is a new work about the tension between our insides and outsides. Blood, guts and bile with an armor of wax.

Over the next month I'll be adding sneak previews of two shows. Please stay tuned!

Morphology
with Kay Hartung
Fountain Street Fine Arts
Framingham MA
May 23 - June 23, 2013
Reception June 8 5-7 pm
Artist Talk June 14 7:30 pm

The Nobility of Things
Solo show, Fruitlands Museum Art Gallery
Harvard MA
June 29 - August 18, 2013
Reception June 29 1-3 pm

Accretion

IMPRINT is growing daily. New panels capturing the lines and impressions from HIVE in encaustic medium. Growing organically like cells dividing - each playing its role towards the larger whole.

4 x 4

Continuing to IMPRINT the HIVE artwork into beeswax. Playing with size, color and texture while using assorted sizes of wooden panels - pictured above are four, 4 in. square panels that are arranged to form a larger square.

Panels relating to each other by a common multiple of 4. Sizes ranging from 16, 8, 4 inches square. Designed to create a composition with movement and interest for the eye.

Back to work tomorrow on creating more from the most recently completed HIVE chambers. One-of-a-kind relief patterns captured in wax and pigment to solidify the ephemeral.

Verb (used with object)

 

IMPRINT

6. to impress (a quality, character, distinguishing mark, etc.).

7. to produce (a mark) on something by pressure.

8. to bestow, as a kiss.

9. to fix firmly on the mind, memory, etc.

Lacelike latticework in space - similar in structure to carbon molecules.

A work in progress - using encaustic technique to capture impressions of the HIVE artwork in wax and paint. Modular diamond panels creating a hive of another kind, but still a product of the many connections made during our HIVE meetings. Below is a close-up of the residual wax after an impression...

A metaphor of the friendships and bonding experienced with this project so far. HIVE meetings are on hold until September when everyone is back from summer schedules. In the meantime, I'll be waxing poetic in the studio (sorry, couldn't resist!).

Impressed

There are many facets of HIVE to appreciate. There's the performance that happens within the circles of participants. There's the texture, line, shape and depth of the material piece.  And there are the cast shadows that are ephemeral. I'm interested in trying to capture the essence of each of these qualities in other media - as another level of transformation.

Yesterday I pulled out my encaustic supplies from a couple years back and started playing with relief patterns using the HIVE pieces. After preparing the boards with many layers of wax I pressed the chambers into the hot wax and removed them after the wax cooled. This left impressions of the wrapped wire which I then painted into and scraped back several times with two different colors.

Then I superimposed the delicate impressions from the screen itself. These indentations are very light so instead of painting in them with wax I rubbed with an oil pastel to capture the patterning.

I'm enamored with the honeycomb-like shapes that happen in HIVE when the chambers are sewn together. My aim is to focus on that detail in these relief patterns, transforming them into yet another facet of HIVE. I can't wait to get back in the studio to continue the experiments.

There are two other projects associated with HIVE that I'm investigating this summer, one based on sound and the other shadow. More about those later...

Inertia

 

This is what procrastination looks like for me today. I finally have a free day to work in studio and I'm having the toughest time getting there! You know it's a real problem when even the exercise bike looks desirable. Who knew avoidance can be good for your health!

In the hopes of eventually getting out of here, I'm going to keep this brief. Today I plan to work out some ideas using HIVE pieces as encaustic relief patterns on wooden panels. How poetic to articulate impressions of HIVE with beeswax as a medium? Will keep you posted. Right now I will step away from the computer...