R&F Handmade Paints

The Third Annual International Encaustic Conference at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA, June 5-7, drew over 200 artists from all over the U.S. (incl.

Demonstrating color properties

Puerto Rico) and Canada as well as New Zealand, France, Ireland, and Iceland.

What is truly amazing and indicative of the growing importance of encaustic in contemporary art is the fact that nearly 100 of these participants had not attended the previous two conferences.  The conference is bringing in new people.

The growth of encaustic painting is evident not only in the conferences but also in the increasing number of encaustic networks. In addition to the International Encaustic Artists (centered in California), New England Wax, Texas Wax, and New Mexico Wax, there are now networks forming in Chicago, Florida, and the Mid-Atlantic states.

The indefatigable Joanne Mattera put together another unique program of speakers and panelists along with 3 different exhibits, 3 days of encaustic demonstrations  and discussions, 3 post-conference days of workshops and critiques, and 6 encaustic-related vendors.

The theme and title of the main exhibit was Beauty and Its Opposites and was held at Montserrat’s gallery. It was juried by Nicholas Capasso, chief curator at the DeCordova Museum . A lovely small exhibit of handmade encaustic books, entitled Wax Libris, was on display at the Montserrat library. A third exhibit was displayed in the hallway outside the vendor and demonstration rooms.

The keynote speaker was critic Barbara O’Brien who spoke of her own aesthetic journey from embracing the intellectualism of Minimalist work to the recognition of the richness and beauty as typified in contemporary encaustic painting.

A panel of conservators from the Brooklyn and Peabody Essex museums and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, discussed the restoration of Fayum mummy portraits and the restoration of John Lafarge’s 19th century encaustic murals in Trinity Church in Boston. The most telling point about the discussion of the ancient encaustics was the fact that much of the restoration required of them had to do with rotting and cracking supports. The wax paint itself had not deteriorated. The slides of the Trinity Church murals show exuberantly brushed, luminous wax imagery set against flat distemper backgrounds. The murals also represent a variant on encaustic in which the wax paint is solvent-based  and applied, either warm or cold, to the surface but not fused. The purpose was to give the paint a matte finish reminiscent of fresco painting.

A roundtable discussion entitled "Gender is a Factor," headed by artists Nancy Azara and Darla Bjork, and Monserrat dean Laura Tonelli, brought up the fact that although a large proportion of artists who work in encaustic are men, the conference and the encaustic networks, as well as most encaustic workshops, are attended almost entirely by women. While this phenomenon has been pointed out many times, the fact that encaustic has become a focus of organization among women artists may foretell the development of a political force in the art world that even today is largely dominated by men.

Barbara Moody, who teaches painting and mixed media at Montserrat, demonstrated how she teaches encaustic to her students. It was enlightening to see this because encaustic has yet to be treated seriously as a contemporary medium in most college art classes. No doubt teachers like Moody, Reni Gower at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Marilynn Derwenskus (ret.) from Ball State Univ. are pioneers of what will become a more widespread course offering in the schools.

So much for what went on in this third annual conference. Each year’s conference has been an expansion of activities of the previous one. We look forward with great anticipation to next year’s gathering.

At Cari Hernandez's demo

"Piri's Voyage" / encaustic and pigment on paper / 30" x 40" / 2009

Join us for the opening of Sara Mast, “Excavating Wonder”, on Saturday June 13th from 5-7pm.  Sara will be traveling all the way from Bozeman, Montana to give an artist talk at 5pm.

The paintings of Sara Mast explore a remote view of the world, as if seen through the technological eye of a satellite, or high-powered telescope. Masts’ work is wholly imagined, yet appropriates a range of scientifically accurate data from star charts to magnetic resonance images of neuronal dendrites. Elements of ancient languages intermingle with navigational artifacts of both sky and sea. The artist embeds layers of information that are revealed as if seen through geologic or archaeological strata. In Masts’ work, flecks of naturally pigmented wax gather and dissolve in forms that reference landmasses, clouds or cosmic dust and stars, expanding and contracting like living organisms.  For more information or to view more of Sara’s work, click here.

Not too many years ago, Francisco Benitez , an artist who divides his time between Santa Fe and Europe, turned from oil painting to encaustic. What made his switch in mediums unique was his extensive background in Classical Greek art and literature. The combination of interests led him to emulate the painting techniques and color palette of the "enkaustai," the Greek encaustic painters of the Fayum funeral portraits. He has since given encaustic presentations in collaboration with Euphrosyne Doxiadis, the author of The Mysterious Fayum Portraits .

Benitez recently visited us at R&F and gave a demonstration of his working method. He applies the paint with a brush, but models, blends, and fuses the paint with our heated horn in the manner of the Greek painters using heated bronze spatulas. This gives markings in the paint similar to those we see in the Fayum portraits. His color palette is based on the "austere" tradition, known as tetrachromy. The Greek painters of that school relied on the use of only four colors: white (either lead or chalk), black (a very bluish black from charred vines), yellow ochre, and red ochre. From these four colors the entire spectrum was mixed. It is a rigid discipline, but the economy of color produces a beautiful harmony.

Below is a detail of the quick sketch Benitez did showing the marks made with the heated horn along side the marks in a Fayum portrait.

Fayum "Jewelry Girl" next to a sketch by Benitez

R&F is excited to be attending the Third Annual Encaustic Painting Conference at Montserrat College of Art.  With 3 days of vendors, demonstrations, lectures, and over 200 attendees, all will be a buzz.

So stop by our vendor booth and say hello to Darin and Anne.  In addition to special conference prices, there will be special colors: Aquamarine Blue, Stil de Grain and Blood Orange.

R&F President Richard Frumess will be giving a lecture entitled What is Paint?  Instructor Danielle Correia will be demonstrating on Photograhy and Encaustic and Instructor Cynthia Winika will be demonstrating on Paper and Encaustic.

The conference runs Friday June 6th - Sunday June 8th.  This is sure to be the encaustic event of the year so don’t miss out.