R&F Handmade Paints

In the fine arts, ‘medium’ refers to the material or substance that your work is made of. As more and more contemporary artists begin working with encaustic in traditional,  non-traditional and boundary-crossing ways, the quandary of how to describe ones work clearly, correctly and professionally arises. This is complicated by the fact that each branch of visual art has a different way of wording these descriptions. These differences are not written out anywhere, but are nonetheless understood by professionals in the field.

Obviously, artists are free to describe their work however they want to, but those looking for guidance might begin by identifying the sensibility that most closely matches their work, and following similar standards for describing their medium and materials. Speak in the language of the field your work is akin to.

In researching this post, I perused a number of catalogues and websites, looking to see how different kinds of artwork were listed.  What I found was very illuminating.  The following overview gives some examples that might help get us thinking about how our work in encaustic can be integrated into the wider world of contemporary art. You will notice that each of the four fields that I focus on, Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking and Fiber and Textile Arts, has a distinct way of describing what the work is made of - a material vocabulary all its own.

PAINTING

Painters define medium strictly by the substance that carries the pigment: Oil, Acrylic, Encaustic, Alkyd, etc., followed by the support (panel, metal, canvas, paper). They keep it short and sweet. It is assumed that the medium contains pigment, and varnishes are not usually listed. Here are some examples for describing painting media:

Examples of the way the medium is described:

Oil on panel |Oil and charcoal on canvas |Acrylic on aluminum |Encaustic on panel | Encaustic and mixed media on panel | Gouache and ink on paper |Encaustic and oil on canvas | Oil paint, paper collage, glitter, map pins on linen

Check out Paul Rinaldi’s blog to see how he identifies his work as painting.

SCULPTURE

The standard in the field for listing sculptural media is all about the raw material. With the exception of casting and welding, references to process are not typical. Sometimes details about the items listed are significant, but in general it is a pretty straightforward list. Some examples:

Examples of the way the medium is described:

Plaster on steel frame | Rubber, polystyrene | Cast bronze | Mattress, water bucket, melons, oranges, cucumber | Polyester resin, fiberglass and human hair | Bisected map, acrylic box |Size seven boots with razor blades | Wax & cigarette butt | Books, wax, pins | Earth, plants, flowers and encaustic | Wax ex voto heads, steel and glass case, heating elements, canaries, steel table, coal miner’s ledger

Check out how Kate Linforth lists the media for her sculptures.

PRINTMAKING

Printmaking covers many different techniques and processes of reproduction. Since each has a particular look and feel, it is standard practice to be technical in describing the medium. Unlike with painting, it is not always important to list whether the ink is oil or water-based, and unlike sculpture the descriptions can contain a lot of detail. It is often assumed that the work is on paper, but sometimes a specific paper will be described, or a non-traditional substrate will be used, and in many cases a combination of processes will be listed.

Examples of the way the medium is described:

Engraving | Relief monoprint | Etching, relief, lithography, and screenprint with chine colle | Hand-cut adhesive vinyl film | lithography with line block | inkjet with archival inks | relief print from laser cut blocks | woodcut, hand-colored with stencils | Photogravure etching | lithograph | woodcut, mokuhanga woodblock, watercolor, wax | woodblock print from 17 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi | woodblock, gampi collage | woodcut printed with Sumi and Graphite pigment on Washi paper | screenprint, felted wool, spray paint, cut paper and mica | 113-color woodcut |woodcut, mezzotint, polymer relief & mixed media

See how Haley Nagy and David A. Clark place their work in the context of printmaking.

FIBER AND TEXTILE ARTS

Fiber artists have a long-standing history of experimentation with materials and techniques, and a focus on creating work about cultural issues such as: gender feminism; domesticity and the repetitive tasks related to women’s work; politics; the social and behavioral sciences; material specific concepts related to fiber’s softness, permeability, and so on. These concerns are reflected in the way the artists describe their materials.

Examples of the way the medium is described:

grapefruit and cantaloupe peels with waxed-linen thread | Sisal, hemp and horsehair, slit tapestry weave with raised coils of supplementary wefts; attached strips of weft-faced plain weave and lengths of horsehair | woven, sewn hemp, linen, handmade paper, twigs, stainless steel wire | Tea stained voile, linen, cotton and embroidery thread | Digitally printed fabric with screenprinting | Hand knit coated wire | Hand spun, hand knit silk & wool, hanger | nylon, fiberfill, wool, paint, wire; felted soft sculpture

Check out Lorraine Glessner’s website and you will see by the way she lists her media that she is talking the language of the Fiber and Textile world.

This list is by no means complete or exhaustive - in fact it barely scratches the surface. But it demonstrates how artists can direct the associations that curators, jurors, gallery directors, collectors and writers make about their work, helping them to place it in an appropriate contemporary context. And maybe even more importantly, it gives artists working with encaustic a better understanding of how to identify their work and why.

The Gallery at R&F is pleased to present a four-person exhibition entitled, Cumulative Force. This exhibition will be on view from May 25th – July 20th, 2013, featuring work by Erin Anfinson, Karen Freedman, Paul Rinaldi and Russell Thurston. Please join us on Saturday, May 25th from 5-7pm for an opening reception. This event is free and open to the public.

Cumulative Force describes the force that acts upon a specific object. In this case, the objects are paintings. The four artists featured in this show approach the concept of accumulation in their own way.

Erin Anfinson (Murfreesboro, TN) is influenced by environments in flux, narratives of evolution and the human tendency to interfere with processes of nature. Since the birth of her son in 2008, her definition of “environment” has turned to her immediate home surroundings. Her works were made in a playful effort to reflect on the strange beauty of a stubbornly Sisyphean domestic nuisance: dirty laundry. These piles of soiled garments are a concrete representation of an evolutionary process and its grotesque nature.

Karen Freedman’s (North Wales, PA) Kaleidoscoptical series is made up of sub-sets of paintings that are generated from a specific design matrix. Varying the colors and the order in which the elements are layered allows for an unlimited series of paintings within these sets, which although united by an identical matrix can, once assembled, appear unrelated.  Her process, like a kaleidoscope, repeats itself over and over, but each result is unique.

Paul Rinaldi (Chicago, IL) makes process paintings, created through the buildup of many thin applications of paint. The layering of paint is like the layering of time—moments passing into days, then weeks, months and years—the immediacy of the present perpetually slipping into the past. The artist’s process alludes to cycles of building and destruction inherent both in the unfolding of the human drama and in the workings of nature. The paintings at times contain the whispers of footsteps and fingerprints, enveloping fields and eroding structures, barriers and bridges, scarred walls, resilient and transitional forms, emergence, growth, and decline.

Russell Thurston (Santa Fe, NM) states that if he had not become an artist, he would have been a scientist. Thurston paints in order to better understand the nature of things, and considers every painting an experiment. He works with a combination of materials including encaustic, oils, tar mastic, dry pigments and other media. Objects, like actual butterflies, toys, flowers or microchips, get embedded in paint. Whether bringing order to chaos or chaos to order, layers get covered and then scraped off in the spirit of discovery. Sometimes the work becomes a mirror reflecting a world he is trying to make sense of; other times it’s a window into a place he’d like to escape to.

The Gallery at R&F in Kingston, NY promotes the various contemporary uses of oil paint and encaustic. The Gallery space is housed within the factory of R&F Handmade Paints, which is one of the few manufacturers of encaustic paint in the world.  Located at 84 Ten Broeck Ave, in midtown Kingston gallery hours are Monday - Saturday, 10am - 5pm.  For further information, call (845) 331-3112.

Dramatic Break-up by instructor Wayne Montecalvo, 2011, Pigment Stick on paper-backed glass, 3 x 4 inches. See more of Wayne's work at www.waynemontecalvo.com

Our new Pigment Stick Mixed Media Lab allows artists to explore the many possible applications of R&F Pigment Sticks, encompassing traditional and alternative approaches and materials. In addition to pigment sticks, we will also demonstrate encaustic for those students who are interested in combining these two highly compatible media. We call this a lab rather than a workshop because we want to encourage artists to come back again and again to use our wonderful space (completely stocked with paint!) as their studio. Benefit from our instructors’ guidance and feedback on your projects, and enjoy the camaraderie of other participants. This lab is a great opportunity to work with a luscious, loose and free painting medium.

Like our encaustic mini workshops, the class will consist of a one-hour demonstration followed by independent work time, with the option of one-on-one consultation with the instructor. Demonstrated techniques and topics of discussion will vary each month according to the interests of the attending artists. Not interested in the demo? Then just get right to work.

The Pigment Stick Mixed Media Lab is held at R&F in Kingston, NY the forth Saturday of every month from 11am to 4pm.  Come join us for our kick-off on Saturday, March 23rd!

You can register online here. Cost is $65.00 and includes all paints.

Introduced in 2009, our Visiting Artist Series has become one of our favorite programs here at R&F - and judging by the full rosters we see for these workshops, they’re pretty popular with artists too. We invite some of the most exciting artists working with encaustic to come to R&F and present a workshop and have an exhibition. Since many of these artists do not teach regularly, this gives students a rare opportunity to learn new techniques,  stretch their practice and see what makes other artists tick. Mark your calendars and start dreaming about which of our Visiting Artists you will want to study with in 2013!

Once registration officially opens, tuition will be $550, but from now until Thanksgiving we are offering a pre-registration special price of $500. To take advantage of this offer, just contact laura@rfpaints.com, or call (845) 331-3112, and indicate which class you are interested in. A $100 deposit is required to hold your place.

RUSSELL THURSTON | Leaving A Mark

May 22-24, 2013

Russell Thurston | Fiesta | 2012

GREGORY WRIGHT | Visual Depth

July 31 - August 2, 2013

Gregory Wright | The Truth Comes Out | 2012

HOWARD HERSH | Following the Thread: Our Road to Discovery

October 2-4, 2013

Howard Hersh | Accretion 6 | 2012

LISA KAIROS | Floating Narratives

December 4-6, 2013

Lisa Kairos | Drift Pollination | 2012

This past June at the 6^th Annual International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, I had the opportunity to sit in on Richard’s session about the adhesive properties of different substances and their compatibility with encaustic paints and mediums.  There was an abundance of information about a variety of different materials and it was all pulled from real-world testing done here at R&F.   (Read more about testing here)   One thing that really struck me more than anything else is that it is not the binder that dictates whether or not a ground is suitable for encaustic - it is how you use it.

To be clear, very early on we were advising artists against the use of encaustic over acrylic mediums.   From 1988 (when Richard began advising artists) until 2007, that was perfectly sound advice.   We did not feel that the acrylic mediums and grounds that were on the market at that time had the porosity or “tooth” necessary for encaustic paint to reliably adhere to a substrate.   Then in 2008, after quite some time in development, we introduced our acrylic based “Encaustic Gesso”.  But how does this work?

Acrylic is bad, right?

Well, no.

Used properly, acrylic is a very reliable, and durable binder.  It has wonderful adhesive properties and flexibility. Carefully tweaked with some other materials, it is quite suitable for use with encaustic paint.  What I took away, more than anything else, from Richard’s presentation in June is that it is not about the binder.

Think of it this way: For years artists have quite successfully used traditional rabbit-skin glue gesso as a ground for encaustic.  Rabbit-skin glue by itself is a slick, non-porous, brittle medium.  On it’s own it is not a very good ground for encaustic.  When you combine it carefully with the right proportion of solid materials (titanium, chalk, etc) it becomes a very suitable ground for encaustic.  So, one more time:  it’s not about the binder.

The reason I feel confident about this (like all our products) is that we test them.  Again and again, until we feel confident about their performance.  Then we test them some more.

When we developed our Encaustic Gesso, (and later, when we worked with Ampersand to create Encausticbord) we wanted something that was absorbent and felt like watercolor paper but could be brushed on smooth and dry quickly with little effort.  We also wanted something that was not soluble with water after it dried since many artists combine encaustic with other media.  And we wanted a gesso that had excellent adhesion on all kinds of substrates and would be flexible and durable to withstand changes in the environment over very long periods of time.   After a lot of hard work and lots of testing we got all of these things.  And some acrylic.

David A. Clark | Dream The Arrow | 2012, Encaustic on Newsprint and Cotton with Dreaming Artist | Site specific environment created for the 6th International Encaustic Conference Hotel Fair Provincetown, Massachusetts | All photos in this post are by Nina Marcia Borland

Like many who are reading this, I have recently returned from the 6th International Encaustic Conference, directed by Joanne Mattera with Truro Center for the Arts director, Cherie Mittenthal. This Conference has been raising the bar for artists who work in the medium of encaustic since its’ inception, but this year impressed me as particularly touching in the way it encouraged attendees to follow their true instincts as artists. My own presentation, Funding Your Work: A Practical Guide to Dreaming Big, emphasized the dreaming big part over the funding part, and David A. Clark’s hotel fair installation, Dreaming the Arrow, illustrates this in the most literal and poetic way.  Following is an interview I conducted with David about this piece.

LM: How would you describe, Dream the Arrow?

DAC: The work is a sensory environment. I want viewers to feel enveloped as if they inadvertently walked into my head and in doing so experience what I feel when I am dreaming which is a sense of expansive trajectory; And of course, the beauty of that moment.

LM: What inspired this piece, and at what point did you decide: this is what I’m doing for the hotel fair?

DAC: I got the idea for this piece last July. It was my first impulse and the idea really frightened me, so I knew I had to do it. The idea began with the space. I wanted it to feel intimate, but at the same time expansive and I knew that I wanted it to be an environment that would be both reflective and fleeting because those were themes percolating in my work. The piece also had to fit the greater thematic thru-line of my work; that is the trajectory of impulse; not so much the beginning and the end, but the impulse that drives one point to another and the moments of reflection suspended along that trajectory. Those suspended moments form the backbone of my more two-dimensional work. But I wanted this particular work to feel like the whole line and the “pull” of the trajectory. For the last couple of years I have been exploring impermanence and the fugitive nature of things as they relate to the larger thematic elements of my work. So it was important to me that the work be grand and yet ephemeral. It took all year to make but lasted only 90 minutes and then it was destroyed. All of the elements of this piece, my presence in it, the humble materials, the sound of the clock ticking, the viewers witnessing and being a part of it, and the fleeting nature of the event are all integral to the meaning of the work.

LM: How did it feel to literally put yourself in your art?

DAC: I enjoyed being a part of the piece. I’m not going to lie and say that I wasn’t nervous about doing it, but there was never any question in my mind of doing the piece without my participation. I had to be a part of it. It wouldn’t have been the same without a human element. A wrapped room is just decoration, but a wrapped room with a life in it gave the materials life and life is impulse. My participation gave the room an energy that it wouldn’t have had otherwise. It gave the room a sense of possibility and it made the work intimate. The work took place in a hotel room after all. I had to acknowledge the space. An empty room is just a room, but a room with a person in it is a story, and every story has possibility.

LM: What was your motivation while you were in the piece? What did you visualize?

DAC: I just tried to breathe and focus. I wanted to be as much a part of the work as I could, and that required me to be as relaxed as possible. I wanted to disappear into it and in order to accomplish that I needed to be as organic to that room as the walls and the floor. So, breathing was key.

LM: Were there any aspects of this performance that surprised you in any way?

DAC: I hadn’t anticipated how vulnerable I would feel being in that bed. One’s bed is a place of safety, so it was a bit strange lying there knowing that the room was literally alive around me. At times I would feel really relaxed and completely open to the environment and then I would realize that I wasn’t alone in the room and I would fight the impulse to shut down. I needed to be open to the viewer for the work to be successful and that required me to be relaxed and accessible which is not necessarily a natural instinct in that state. It was unsettling but strangely empowering to let everyone watch me at my most vulnerable and be open to the unknown. I really had to trust the work and myself in it and know that the world that I had created would take care of itself.

LM: It seems like a huge amount of preparation and planning went into this project, especially considering the travel. How did you lay out your plan of action?

DAC: It did take lots of planning. I spent months working out the details of how I was going to make the work. All of the elements of the piece including the paper, mounting hardware and tools had to fit into a custom made box that fit the airlines requirement of a maximum of 64 inches. I completely reconfigured my studio to print sheets of paper that were 1 x 4 yards. I printed 120 yards of paper, more than I needed, but I had to have options so that I could think on my feet when I arrived at the hotel. I also printed sheets, pillowcases and curtains. In my head I was planning the piece based on the room I’d had last year, but when I arrived at the hotel I was given another room which was subtly different and I had to make adjustments as I went along. So, I’m glad I had a couple of contingency plans built into my preparation. Preparation was key.

LM: Have you made a conscious decision to merge your background as an actor with your present visual art practice?

DAC: I wouldn’t call it a conscious decision. Right now, being a part of the work feels like the logical result of following my creative impulses. For me it is always about the idea, and then what follows is how to give that idea the most resonant form I can. So if it means that I need to be a physical part of my work in order to give these new ideas life then I will. I’m not sure these environments will take over my practice, but the thematic elements that drive these environments are part of an effort on my part to think bigger in my work, and not to limit myself to ideas that fit in a frame. And the International Encaustic Conference is a great forum in which to explore grand ideas like this that may be outside of my usual practice.

LM: Do you think, in general, that visual artists might benefit from the kind of training one gets as an actor?

DAC: I think artists benefit from all sorts of cross disciplinary training. No matter what the medium, artists are taking ideas and giving those ideas a dimensional form. So, for me, yes, my training as an actor has helped me flesh out many elements of the work I am doing now. It’s certainly helped me be braver in my work. More importantly though when one is an actor one learns to be present, to think on one’s feet and honestly sit in one’s impulses and emotions. That is an invaluable skill in any discipline.

LM: Where do you think this project might lead you? Do you think it could change your work?

DAC: I can see myself doing more work that fuses my performance background with my visual art practice, absolutely, and I am really enjoying doing large-scale environments. These environments allow me to tackle thematic elements that are more effective when the viewer is part of the piece. Doing this type of work has changed me, so I know it will change the trajectory of my studio practice. It’s very exciting to be on the brink of something new and navigating uncharted territory. That’s a great place for me to be. My best work springs from ideas that set me on a path that is a bit unsettling. Unsettling is exciting. I am at my best in the studio when I am questioning and taking a risk. It’s my job to risk jumping into the unknown, and every risk taken is part of the larger trajectory of what moves me and my work forward. So why not take a leap and see where the impulse flies? I might just keep on going.

Brook Gruber & Nicholas Hancock

Many multi-disciplinary collaborations and new techniques have emerged in the many and various encaustic workshops that have proliferated in the last two decades. Toby Sisson, a professor at Clark University in Worcester, MA, has been consulting with R&F for the past two years to make encaustic an integrated part of the painting program at Clark.

Jessica Bisbee

What is exceptional about the course Sisson has developed is that it is one of the few instances where encaustic painting has been brought into the academic curriculum. Sisson has her students explore the many properties of the medium and then use them to approach sculpture, photography, printmaking, painting, and drawing as part of what she calls a mixed-media “cross-pollination” with the different disciplines.

Palette set-up with exhaust hood

I recently paid a visit to Sisson’s class in encaustic painting at Clark University in Worcester, MA. Many of the 12 students had had their interest piqued by an exhibit of encaustic work that Sisson had curated the previous semester. Some were inspired by the seductive opulence of the paint and the almost infinite variety of mark making possibilities. Others were fascinated by encaustic’s long and fabled history.

Toby Sisson with her class

Many of these students are double majors, combining science, language, literature, and art history with their fine art degrees. So the various directions from which the students were approaching it further broaden the cross-pollination that Sisson is using as a focus for the class.

I recently attended the Southern Graphics Councils’ annual conference, which was held this year in New Orleans. One of the highlights for me was an opportunity to catch up with the work of artist, Mary Jane Parker, who had a solo show at the Gallery at R&F in 2008. In her current solo show, Keepsakes, at Arthur Roger Gallery, Mary Jane presents new work inspired by the masses of foliage that blanketed the New Orleans landscape in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Struck by the natural patterns of vines and how they decorated the surfaces of the city, she began photographing, drawing and cutting stencils of them, thinking that these intricate stencils could be used for a series of encaustic paintings. But something happened in the process that made her realize she didn’t need the wax at all! The show features hand and laser cut paper, prints and photographs.

Manifold Destiny by Peggy Epner, one of the artists who will be featured in EW'12

It is with great excitement that we share with you the list of artists selected to be included in the inaugural edition of Encaustic Works ‘12.

Joanne Mattera combed through 416 submissions, and whittled it down to a group of 50 artists whose work will be featured in the book, (you didn’t fall for that silly talk about 18, did you?).

Joanne has also written a fabulous and extensive essay about contemporary encaustic that will be illustrated with artwork culled from submissions. Our original thinking was that this essay could be an opportunity to provide a sort of honorable mention and allow us to include a few more artists, but now that we’ve read the essay and seen the artwork, we see it differently. The essay is more like the meat and potatoes of the book; the portfolio section, which will feature 29 artists, is the dessert! We therefore consider all artists featured in the book, whether with one image or a portfolio spread, equal winners.

Following is a list of the Selected Artists:

Kevin Frank | Fanne Fernow | Ann-Marie Brown | Debra Ramsay | Howard Hersh | Lisa Pressman | Binnie Birstein | Willow Bader | Cherie Mittenthal | Cecile Chong | Marybeth Rothman | Kim Bernard | Eileen Goldenberg | Jane Nodine | Ellen Koment | Lynda Ray | Nancy Natale | Alexandre Masino | Paula Roland | David A. Clark | Kathleen Lemoine | Andrea Benson | Lisa Kairos | Pam Farrell | Stephanie Lerma | Sara Mast | Jeri Eisenberg | Hilda Shen | Nancy Richards Davis | Zoe Ani | Sandi Miot | Dawna Bemis | Susan Delgalvis | Charyl Weissbach | Alicia Forrestal-Bohm | Renee Magnanti | Peggy Epner | Catherine Nash | Lorrie Fredette | Susan Tonkin Reigel | Sue Katz | Nathan Hatch | Shelley Gilchrist | Stephanie Armbruster | Susanne Arnold | Bianca Pratorius | Toby Sisson | Russell Thurston | Gregory Wright | Ruth Hiller

and now…The 29 Portfolio Artists:

Anne-Marie Brown | Debra Ramsay | Howard Hersh | Lisa Pressman | Binnie Birstein | Cecile Chong | Marybeth Rothman | Kim Bernard | Ellen Koment | Lynda Ray | Nancy Natale | Paula Roland | Kathleen Lemoine | Sara Mast | Jeri Eisenberg | Hilda Shen | Renee Magnanti | Peggy Epner | Catherine Nash | Sue Katz | Nathan Hatch | Shelley Gilchrist | Stephanie Armbruster | Susanne Arnold | Bianca Pratorius | Toby Sisson | Russell Thurston | Gregory Wright | Ruth Hiller

Nicely done, one and all!

And now, some words from Joanne Mattera…

A Word About the Selections

The insistent message of the 415 entrants to this competition is that there is a lot of really good work being made in encaustic—accomplished work that has a presence and a point of view. The work I selected for this volume reflects but a fraction of the painting, sculpture and work on paper worthy of inclusion. A different judge would surely have selected a different exhibition. Indeed, 10 judges could easily have selected 10 compelling and totally different exhibitions from the images submitted.

Some artists removed themselves from the running with images that did not represent the work well. Most egregiously were those several images not adequate for publication, either in quality or in size. This is an exhibition in a book, after all, so if the images were not of sufficient reproduction quality, they could not be considered. Relatedly, some artists submitted work that simply was not photogenic—work that would read as blurry or that was so subtle the image would be lost in print (there are five or six degrees of separation from your actual work to its representation in ink on paper). In a bricks-and-mortar exhibition, the juror might accept such work provisionally, reserving final judgment when the work could be seen in person; that’s not an option when the exhibition is in print. (I saw this same situation when I was considering images for The Art of Encaustic Painting 12 years ago.) Image quality counts.

Other artists presented images that did not hold together as a portfolio. Indeed some submissions looked like a group show; that’s the mark of a beginner, someone who has not yet found a visual identity or the courage to say, “This is what I do.” And yet others are still in the experimentation stage; they’ve learned what they can do with wax, but it’s all about technique—medium without message.

Overall, though, the biggest issue is that 415 entrants (!) submitted work for which a fraction could be selected. Congratulations to those of you who made it in. I know the rest of you will not stop here. There are other competitions, other opportunities to show. You will find a place for what you do.

From September 8th through October 2nd, The Carroll House Gallery at Keene State College in New Hampshire hosted, New Views of Encaustic Art, featuring the work of Francisco Benitez, Kevin Frank, Leah Macdonald,  Marybeth Rothman, and yours truly, Laura Moriarty.

On September 13th, I was invited by Professor Peter Roos, who curated the exhibition, to present a lecture at the Redfern Arts Center, where I spoke about my work and presented an R&F Encaustic Demonstration for an awesome group of students who were eager to experiment with encaustic.

Thanks to Peter Roos for conceiving and organizing these events, and for promoting encaustic at the academic level, where it makes such an important difference.