Celebrate Wax and Weave – September 10, 2014
Anna VanDelman reports
What a wonderful opening meeting in September! Over thirty members of the Guild came together at Karma Creative art studio – home away from home for our president, Karen Chisvin and member Maggie Doswell who are partners at the studio, and now Bruria Cooperman (who is pursuing her art there).
Bruria led the evening, introducing us to the new for us, but very old, medium of encaustic. It dates back over two thousand years, and its modern form is largely due to its revival by artist Jasper Johns.
One takes a support – cloth, wood, paper, etc. – and rubs, paints or dips it over with hot melted beeswax. The wax cools quickly on its own. A heat gun, torch, or other heat tool may be used to fuse the wax, layer by layer. Pigment, oil sticks, oil paints and other appropriate media can be used to add colour to or on the wax. The wax can be manipulated in a variety of ways such as scraping to create smooth layers or interesting textures, or handling paper and cloth to make three dimensional forms.
Members were excited to experiment, some worked in teams and some individually. Assistance was available from our talented presenters.
Squeals of excitement could be heard as members experienced the transformation of their chosen materials into newly evolved creations, using ancient techniques and making them new. We touched each others’ work: a true hands on experience. We were all encausticated!
Source for encaustic instruction – classes and workshops
Karma Creative art studio, karma-creative.ca
Sources for materials
Aboveground Art, Curry’s, Deserres, Gwartzmans
Selected sources of inspiration
Deborah Howard http://www.deborahhowardart.com
Sherrie Posternak http://www.sherrieposternak.com/portfolio/
Raé Miller http://raemiller.com/gallery-2-
Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Textiles Toronto 