Sounds of Spring with an Invitation

April. Doesn't that have a lovely sound to it?  Conjures up images of daffodils and other signs of new life.

Signs of Life II
encaustic on birch
14" x 14"
©2014NanciHersh

Speaking of sounds and new life one sure sign of spring here is the high pitched other wordly mating sounds of the frogs in our pond. The first couple of years here I had no idea what that non stop whirring was, but then again it took me two years to figure out that the street in our neighborhood called Delpa is because half the street is in Delaware, the other in PA. duh. 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to get up close and personal for one of the apparently very hormonal residents of our pond. 

So the guy with the bulge under his mouth is the one making the noise and yet
check out the couple near by... is he the look out?

After listening to this for countless hours of intimate experiences all times of day and night we realized, that we need to move. just kidding- I have an exhibition coming up, these guys INSPIRE me!

Koi Pond Series at Mala Galleria in Kennett Square, PA. May 1- June 3, 2014
Artist Reception: First Friday, May 2, 2014 from 6-9 pm.

Please join us!

A Passion for Wax

There is something so yummy - so luminous, so... seductive about encaustic, the medium of pigmented wax. And relatively simple, as Joanne Mattera writes in her comprehensive guide The Art of Encaustic Painting- "The basic formula for encaustic can be summed up in six words: melt wax, add pigment, paint, fuse." 

Aquaescape
encaustic, oil, collage on panel
12" x 24"
©2014NanciHersh

And that my friends will be what I am teaching tomorrow, Saturday, March 29 from 10 - 4 at my Encaustic Workshop at DCAD.

More, 2001
encaustic, copper leaf, collage on panel
12"x 9"
©NanciHersh

And as Joanne Mattera adds in the section about Encaustic in the Twenty-First Century, "it is not paint that makes the painting, but the artist." And there are lots of us...

Catherine Nash's computer interactive book on DVD, Authentic Visual Voices: Contemporary Paper & Encaustic offers a compelling opportunity to see the work of 28 artists who work with paper and encaustic through interviews that Catherine completed over a 2 and a half year road trip. These recorded studio visits are followed by images by more than 100 international artists (including me!)

I was introduced to the medium at a workshop taught by Francesca Azzara many years ago at the Arts Guild of NJ in Rahway and have been hooked every since.

See one, do one, teach one.

Kindred Spirits- Artist as Collector

Colorado based artist, Rebecca Dierickx Taylor is our guest blogger this week for the Artist as Collector Series.

Sandra Dunn, Tephra
Encaustic on panel
3" x 3"
©SandraDunn
collection of Rebecca Dierickx Taylor

Sandra Dunn and I were introduced by a mutual friend when I was living in Oklahoma. When I met Sandra it was like conversing with a sister I never had.   Then when I saw her artwork I truly felt that we were on the same wavelength.  Sandra told me she likes to “connect the dots” in her artwork between nature and spirit. And like me, she works in multiple mediums—painting, printmaking, sculpture and mixed media. With her encaustics, she says she might have an impulse or idea that she is initially following then the encaustic leads her into new territory.  For Sandra the creative process is more important than the final product.  

Soon after meeting Sandra, she was in an art fair and I visited her booth.  Many beautiful encaustics were displayed.  I found one I really liked and as I turned to talk to another friend, someone else came up and bought the piece I had been interested in!  I was a disappointed, but I also believe that piece then wasn’t meant for me. When Sandra created some more encaustics there was one she thought I would like.  When she showed it to me I loved it even better than the one that sold.   

“Tephra” was meant for me. I acquired this piece in a trade for one of my monotypes. I think I got the better end of the deal. This photo really doesn’t do the piece justice; the layers, the depth and the luminosity just draws you in.   

I now live in Colorado and “Tephra” hangs above my desk.   It is a daily reminder of Sandra and to remember that the creative process is sometimes more important than the final product.

Rebecca Dierickx Taylor works in a variety of medium to give form to her memories of growing up in the Midwest and later, of her time in Oklahoma. The big skies and contrast of light and dark created by weather conditions in her environment provide endless inspiration with its beauty and potential for chaos and destruction.

Collecting Delaware Valley Art - Artist as Collector Series

Delaware based artist Wes Memeger is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector series.

Crab Apples, 2002
Encaustic on wood
16" x 24"
©2013Sallie Ketcham

I purchased this work from Sallie Ketcham the year it was made. It became a part of our collection made up mostly of works by Delaware Valley artists. 

In first viewing the work, I was quite impressed by the visually deep image Sallie was able

to create in the work forged by much modeling and tooling of the wax.  This was apparently accomplished both by working of the pigmented medium and sculpting of the tree images, heavily on the foreground and in a hyper-subtle fashion as one moves more deeply into the picture plane.

Crab Apples, (detail) 2002
Encaustic on wood
16" x 24"
©2013Sallie Ketcham

This is an especial accomplishment considering the work has a very minimal palette with an overall sense of somber grays, browns and almost flesh colored pinks. In addition to the fine

quality of the work itself, Sallie placed it into a floater frame with a perfectly matched painted wood matte. The latter is consistent with the care Sallie takes in presenting her work for public exhibition.

It holds the distinction of being the second of only two encaustic wax works in our collection, the first also by Sallie. 

Wes Memeger is a painter living and working in Delaware. His abstract geometric paintings investigate the square as a means for exploring the picture plane while uncovering dynamic possibilities along with innate tranquility.