texasWAX/houston

HOT! HOT! HOT! Art Exhibition at Bosque Gallery, LoneStar College, CyFair

2011-08-11T17:35:00.000-05:00

Houston member artists of TexasWAX exhibited their work this summer at Bosque Gallery, LoneStar College, CyFair campus. The exhibition closes next week.

Exhibiting artists were Steffani Frideres, Jennie Kimbrough, Julia Koivumaa, Caroline Marcos, Hayes Parker, Gwendolyn Plunkett, Suzanne Shield-Polk and Linda Walker.

L - R Large orange diptych by Julia Koivumaa, two small pieces by Jennie Kimbrough and five piece series by Steffani Frideres

Caroline Marcos

Linda Walker

Jennie Kimbrough

Steffani Frideres

Left wall of gallery looking towards lobby.

Right wall of gallery: Works by Julia Koivumaa, Hayes Parker and Suzanne Shield-Polk

Hayes Parker

Hayes Parker, Julia Koivumaa, Jennie Kimbrough, and Steffani Frideres

Hayes standing next to three of his pieces.

L -R Julia Koivumaa and Hayes Parker

Suzanne Shield-Polk, her large ceramic bottle with encaustic

Suzanne Shield-Polk

Close-up of Suzanne's bottle

Linda Walker

Member News

2011-03-28T23:33:00.000-05:00

Steffani Frideres is showing new mixed media pieces in her exhibition Waxing and Waning at Lone Star College, in Tomball through May 15.

The works featured in the exhibit are augmented photographic images which, as the artist describes them “are made, not taken.” Each piece is a black and white silver gelatin print, mounted on wooden panels. Each photograph is coated with an mixture of wax and damar resin, then fused with high heat in order to bond the wax to the photograph. Images are then hand painted with encaustic wax and oil pigment in subsequent layers and fused. “It's a labor intensive process,” Frideres says, “that takes time, and more time.”
Frideres feels this collection illustrates her internal reflections and memories. “Like a slightly fogged or soft focus photograph, these waxed images are reminiscent of another time and place, forgotten yet uncovered,” she says. You can see more of Steffani's work on her website here.

She has also just published a catalog to go with the exhibition. You can view it here.

Admission to the gallery is free of charge. The LSC-Tomball art gallery is adjacent to the Beckendorf Conference Center, near the college entrance at SH 249 and Zion Road.

College address is:
LSC-Tomball College Gallery
30555 Tomball Parkway
Tomball, TX 777375
______________________________________

Gwendolyn Plunkett has two works in the Pulp Fiction exhibition at the Encaustic Art Institute in New Mexico coming up in April.

Set in Stone II, Encaustic, various burned papers, oil bar on panel, 16 x 16 inches

Set in Stone I, Encaustic, various burned papers, oil bar on panel, 16 x 16 inches

OPENING-April 2: "Pulp Fiction" (works on paper)
EAI Gallery, Cerrillos, NM 1-6 pm

Body Language Exhibition at Encaustic Center in Richardson, TX. Through April 3, 2011.

2011-03-13T11:36:00.001-05:00

, originally uploaded by theencausticcenter.

My thanks to Bonnie and Deanna at The Encaustic Center for this exhibition.

Encaustic Workshop at Lonestar College CyFair Campus

2011-01-12T15:18:00.000-06:00

Here are the numbers you need to register for the Spring Encaustic Workshop at Lone Star College, CyFair.
You will have to register on campus in the CE Department, MOD 1 building.
Encaustic Painting - ARTS C - 3800059 5011-2011 Spring

The class meets in the Arts building Rm 115.
Class begins on Sat. Feb 5 and runs for six consecutive Saturdays.
Class time: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Paint, medium, small wooden panel substrates, some oil bars and oil paint, some paper for collage, and all equipment are supplied by school.
Students should supply their own drawings, photocopies, objects for embedding, extra collage material compatible with wax, shop towels, and oil bars of your choice of colors.

There are some excellent books on the market today about painting with encaustics. Most can be found on Amazon. Although I have my books available during workshop, but I suggest you get your own.

This workshop covers the following:
Brief history of wax/encaustic as a medium for art making
Safety precaustions with equipment, tools, and studio ventilation
Types of substrates appropriate for use with wax
Several ways of priming substrates

At end of workshop, participant should have at least 12 paintings that demonstrate a working knowledge of the following techniques:
transparent and opaque uses of encaustic paint, collage with wax, image transfer, embedding objects, pouring techniques, smooth and rough textures, stencils and masks, and dipping methods.

Click here to see more images of some student paintings from previous workshops.

HIVE Revisit

2010-11-30T23:12:00.000-06:00

Below are Cheryl McClure's and Carolyn Fox-Hearn's paintings that didn't make it into my previous post. My apologies to Cheryl and Carolyn for not getting their paintings in there.

Cheryl McClure (DallasWAX group) They Paved Paradise, Encaustic Collage

Carolyn Fox-Hearn, Man and Bee, Encaustic Collage

Below are different views of Denise Stringer Davis's collaborative book and the list of artists who collaborated on this project.


Denise Stringer Davis, Collaborative book Alex Brewer, Pat Burton, Denise Stringer Davis, Molly Davis, Zoe Davis, Loretta DiStefano, Alex Dupre, Claire Dupre, Lindsay Hill, Corinne Jones, Heidi Lingamfelter, Linda Pinkston, Hazel Shepherd, Jane Shepherd

I would also like to mention that besides having Laura Tyler's film stream during the exhibition, getting lots of attention I might add, during the panel discussion, I shared some of the images Laura sent me of a new project she has underway. Another collaboration but with the bees. She and the bees are creating a kind of quilt. Her idea, but the bees are helping. Below is some information about Laura. Click here for Laura's web site. Thank you, Laura.

Laura holding up one of her frames that is placed inside the hive. It is a timely process she says, and much depends on the bee's schedule.

"Laura Tyler, producer and director of the documentary film Sister Bee, is a painter and filmmaker who speaks nationally about beekeeping and honeybees. A co-founder of the Boulder, Colorado based honey company, Backyard Bees, she manages up to 20 colonies of honeybees. She earned a BFA in filmmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1993 and is a lover of sunlight, flowers and alizarin orange."

SISTER BEE, SHORT SYNOPSIS

Sister Bee is a lyrical documentary about six beekeepers who find beauty and wonderment in their work with honeybees. Beekeeping is more than a hobby for the beekeepers of Sister Bee. It's a source of laughter, learning and connecting with the natural world. Sister Bee follows the arc of the beekeeping year beginning with spring queens and ending with the fall honey harvest. Each beekeeper's outlook is revealed through shared thoughts and gestures. Expressive sound effects and a score of vocal music, antique whistling songs and acoustic guitar unify Sister Bee into a celebration of honeybees, beekeepers and the changing seasons. Mortality, sisterhood and the palpable sense of connectedness some beekeepers experience while working with honeybees are addressed.

Lastly, I want to say a bit about the Bee Book I put in the exhibition. As I said earlier, it is a book we (my siblings and I) found in when we were going through my parents house after my mom passed. I remember my step dad keeping the bees, the honey and comb in jars, and seeing him in his protective gear when he was working. I think he had trouble with them surviving through the winter and finally he stopped. I don't know when or how he got the book. It was sealed in a zip lock bag on the book shelf when we found it. The book is C. C. Miller's Fifty Years Among the Bees originally published by A.I Root Company, Medina, Ohio in 1915. The copy I have is too fragile to read but I did take pictures of some of the pages. Dover republished an unabridged edition in 2006 which I have now and am reading. Miller has a charming way of describing his life and his attitudes and it is a fun read so far. Not knowing much about keeping bees myself, I thought it would be boring and too technical but so far, that hasn't been the case.

At one point, Miller had a job in another state and his beekeeping was being done long distance with the aide of his wife and some neighbors. He says, on page 36, "Clearly, keeping bees at along range was a very unsatisfactory business. City life was also unsatisfactory; a traveling life was worse. So in spite of the reduced chance of making money, I decided for a life in the country." Further on, he says, "If I had kept my other job I would have, no doubt, made more money, but I would not have had so good a time, and doubt if I would be alive now. " Reminds me of how I felt when I quit my high school teaching job.

HIVE Exhibition

2010-11-16T02:31:00.000-06:00

Telling Bees by Denise Stringer Davis

Above Paintings are top: Entomphily and Zoophily: Birds and Bees, etc by Deanna Wood

Next down: Vacant by Jennie Kimbrough

Next down: Decline by Hayes Parker

Sara Cooney's work

Work by Suzanne Shield Polk

Close up of Collections, collaborative book by Denise Stringer Davis

Above and below are images from the HIVE exhibition at the Cole Art Center in Nacogdoches this month. We had good attendance at the reception and panel discussion on Saturday. This project was conceived to promote a greater awareness of the importance of the honeybee to our society and create discussion about causes for the current problem with the bee population called Colony Collapse Disorder, referred to as CCD.

A major part of the exhibition is the wall of hexagon-shaped Encaustic paintings by Houston and DallasWAX member artists. Content of the work needed to pertain to bees in some way. We have Laura Tyler's film Sister Bee, streaming in the gallery. A collaborative accordion-fold book conceived and assembled by Denise Stringer Davis with pages made by friends, family and artist members is also on display. Many of the members have bee keeping in their family history. I found a old hardback copy of C.C. Miller's Fifty Years Among the Bees in my dad's things after he passed. He had stopped keeping bees a long while back and given all his equipment to another family member but for some reason kept the book. It is on display as well. Below is Denise's Honey Dreams which sits on a pedestal in the gallery. Honey is in the mouth.

The panel discussion was a lively conversation with good audience participation. Marie Kucyen, president of the Pineywood Beekeepers Association presented interesting facts about our dependence on bees for much of our food supply. She cautioned that even with the recent news about identifying the cause of CCD, there are still questions that have not been answered surrounding this disorder. There is still suspicions that certain pesticides lower the immune systems of the bees so that they are unable to fight off the affects of the two suspected causes.

Panel member Melanie Brakie gave suggestions for garden plants that bees and other pollinators love as well as good suggestions on better products to get rid of garden pests that don't harm bees nor the environment. Dr. David Kulhavy was very enthusiastic about the coming together of art and science. He spoke of his book A Forest Insect Alphabet which has just been printed and will be on exhibition this week. Animated, he read/sang some of the songs that he wrote in the book about the wiggle dance of the bees. There is more about his book at the bottom of this post.

Honey Dreams by Denise Stringer Davis


Honey Dreams by Denise Stringer Davis


HIVE exhibition L to R at far end L work by Sara Cooney, Deanna Wood and Denise Stringer Davis

L to R: Collections, Denise Stringer Davis, and other works in HIVE

Pollen Puffers by Larry Kitchens

Old book from Gwen Plunkett's collection handed down from her Dad. Book is an original copy of C.C. Miller's Fifty Years Among the Bees.

L to R Collections, Far left: Denise Stringer Davis; Untitled by Hayes Parker; Vacant by Jennie Kimbrough; God's Nectar I and II and Queen's Lair (A Room of Her Own) by Gwendolyn Plunett

Swarm I and II and Star's Tears by Gwendolyn Plunkett; Harmony and Heartbroken by Carolyn Fox-Hearn and further down works by Linda Walker

Diaspora, Empty Nest Syndrome and Cast Aside by Linda Walker

L and R - Harmony; Center-Heartbroken by Carolyn Fox Hearn

Panel: L to R- Gwendolyn Plunkett, Marie Kocyan, Dr. David Kulhavy, and Melinda Brakie.

In the picture above, Dr. Kulhavy is holding up a copy of his latest project, A Forest Insect Alphabet, a book consisting fifty-one original woodcuts and text printed by LaNana Creek Press. This book is a result of an SFA faculty research grant awarded to Charles Jones, retired professor of art and director of SFA's fine arts press, and Dr. Kulhavy. It was printed and bound by hand during the summer and fall of 2010. The 72-page book includes woodcut prints of forest insects created by Charles Jones and descriptions and texts are written by Dr. Kulhavy. Included in each book is a compact disc of songs that are the actual texts set to music by Nacogdoches musician Miki Lynn. Click here to read more.

The book and 26 selected framed pages will be exhibited Wednesday, Nov. 17 in Griffith Gallery on the SFA campus.

Q is for Woodcut by Charles Jones

You can see more four more pages of images of the HIVE exhibition on my Flickr page here.

HIVE Exhibition Opens next Saturday

2010-11-08T01:15:00.000-06:00

Image by Deanna Wood - Entomophilly, Zoophilly, Birds, Bees, etc.
(Three 12 x 13.75 inch hexagon panels)

Stephen F. Austin State University
SFA Galleries
PO Box 13041, SFA Station
Nacogdoches, TX 75962-3041

hive
Opening Reception with the artists November 13, 2010, at 3 p.m.

A multi-disciplinary exhibition of encaustic paintings that shine a light on the plight of the bee featuring works by 12 Texas artists

followed by a panel discussion on the importance of the bees & colony collapse disorder at 3:30 p.m.

On view November 12 - December 10
The Cole Art Center at The Old Opera House
Upstairs Hallway; 329 #. Main Street, Nacogdoches, TX
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 12:30 - 5 p.m.,
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sponsored in part by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts
and Nacogdoches Junior Forum
For more information, please call 936-468-1131

Participating artists:
from HoustonWAX
Gwendolyn Plunkett, Denise Stringer Davis, Sara Cooney, Jennie Kimbrough, Hayes Parker, Linda Walker, Susan Shield-Polk

from DallasWAX: Carolyn Fox-Hearn, Cheryl McClure, Larry Kitchens, Deanna Wood

From Boulder, Colorado: Laura Tyler (Sister Bee)

Panel members:
Marie Kocyan, president of the Pineywoods Beekeepers Association
Melinda Brakie, a soil conservationalist from the East Texas Plant Material Center
Gwendolyn Plunkett, president of Texas Wax Houston (the organization responsible for the exhibition)
Dr. David Kulhavy, SFA professor of forestry and a contributor to PollinatorLIVE, a national program on pollinators and public education.

Reminder: TexasWAX/Houston Meeting Tomorrow

2010-04-24T12:36:00.003-05:00

We are meeting at Gwen's (my) house this Sunday. That is tomorrow. Two thirty.
Bring something new to share.
See you tomorrow.

Exhibitions to See and Exhibition Opportunities

2010-04-14T18:44:00.016-05:00

Left: Under My Skin, Gwendolyn Plunkett
Encaustic/Mixed Media, 16 x 16 inches

Two solo shows at Buchanan Gallery in Galveston open this weekend. Locating Beauty/Skin Deep, works by Gwendolyn Plunkett, and Palimpsest, works by Deanna Wood are on view from Saturday, April 17 through May 22.
Reception is this Saturday during Galveston's Art Walk from 6-9 pm.

Just up the street from Buchanan Gallery at the temporary location of the Galveston Art Center you can see Houston artist Howard Sherman's exhibition Eating Your Friction.
The temporary address is 2501 Market at 25th Street.

Artist Call:
Dallas artist Junanne Peck has a call out for art for the exhibition: Dance of Life:Bras for Breast Cancer.
Click here for more information.

Houston Wax Sunday, April 25

2010-04-14T18:15:00.003-05:00

Houston Wax meeting will be held on Sunday, April 25 at Gwen's house. Two Thirty is the time.

Texas

2010-04-14T18:14:00.001-05:00

TexasWAX/Houston meeting Sunday, March 28 - 2:30 at MFAH Cafe Express

2010-03-26T10:37:00.015-05:00

Two great figurative exhibitions are here in Houston now, one at the CAMH and one at MFAH conveniently located just across the street from each other. Alice Neel: Painted Truths at the MFAH and Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool at the CAM, painters of the figure when figure painting wasn't so cool. TexasWAX/Houston is holding our March meeting at the MFAH in the Cafe Express downstairs and will proceed to the galleries to view the Alice Neel exhibition then across the street to the CAMH to see the Barkley Hendricks exhibit. For more information about each artist, click the images and the museum highlighted text in the paragraph above.

Clicking the painting by Hendricks will take you to the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Here you will see a grid of paintings by this artist with dialog embedded in each icon. The dialog is activated when you click a painting.
When you click the CAMH site and scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will find an interesting video and interview with the artist.

I hope to see you Sunday.

Texas Wax Logo Competition

2010-01-23T22:55:00.002-06:00

Texas Wax Logo Competition

RULES & ENTRY PROCEDURE
Texas Wax, a Texas non-profit arts organization, invites you to submit
an entry to its Logo Competition. We appreciate your participation and
wish you good luck!

CONCEPT OF COMPETITION
Artwork should embody the spirit and mission statement of Texas Wax
(please see below). It will become the visual identification for the
Texas Wax non-profit entity and will be the property of Texas Wax.
Selected artwork will be used as the primary logo for the organization
on its website and other marketing materials.

RULES OF COMPETITION
1. Submit original artwork or comprehensive layouts. The work must be
original. Design must incorporate original ideas of the artist.
Because the artwork will receive widespread exposure, the design may
not be a close derivative of an existing logo.

2. Entrants are encouraged to include with their entries a brief
explanation of how the design of the logo reflects Texas Wax. The logo
should be suitable for adaptation to a variety of formats, such as the
Texas Wax printed materials, website, etc. The logo should maintain
its appearance well in different sizes. The logo must work in black
and white, gray scale, and in color. The logo should incorporate the
name "Texas Wax” and may, but is not required, to include the words
“Encaustic Arts.”

3. Board members and officers of Texas Wax are NOT ELIGIBLE to
participate. All Associate Members of Texas Wax are eligible and
encouraged to participate. It is not necessary however to be an
Associate Member of Texas Wax to submit an entry.

4. The artist agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Texas Wax LLC from
and against any damages or losses sustained as a result of any design
that is not original. By submitting an entry the artist certifies that
he/she is the author of the material submitted to Texas Wax and that
if the entry is selected, Texas Wax and its licensees may reproduce,
distribute, publish, display, edit, modify, create derivative works
and otherwise use the material for any purpose in any form and on any
media. By submitting an entry the artist further agrees if his/her
entry is selected he/she will assign free of charge all exclusive and
transferable rights to use, publish, advertise, copy, modify, alter
and reproduce the logo in any possible manner (commercial and non-
commercial).

JUDGES
Texas Wax will select judges for the competition that may include
representatives from the Texas Wax board, professional graphic
designers and representatives from the arts community. Judges will not
know the identity of the entrants and will base their decision solely
on the artistic merit of the entry.

AWARDS
The winning artist will receive a $250 cash award and will be
identified on the Texas Wax website with a link to the artist’s
website, if requested.

ELIGIBILITY
1. To be eligible to win the $250 cash award, entrants must be 18
years of age or older and reside in the state of Texas at the time of
the competition.
2. Entries submitted must be the original artwork or design of the
entrant.
3. Each entry should contain the design of the logo, including any
associated lettering. Each entry must include the entry form (below)
with the following information: name, address, email, phone number,
and signature.
4. Entries should be submitted as jpeg, tiff or eps files and should
not exceed 3MB in size.
5. There are no fees to submit an entry. Limit one logo submission per
person.

CALENDAR
All entries must be emailed by March 1, 2010 to Sharon Kyle Kuhn of
Texas Wax at: bay6studio@gmail.com. In lieu of email submissions,
digital files may be sent on a CD to Sharon Kyle Kuhn at: 5305 Bolm
Rd, Unit6, Austin, TX 78721. Mailed entries must be postmarked by
March 1, 2010 to be considered.

April 2, 2010
Winning artwork and artist will be announced. All entrants will be
notified by email when judging is completed.

MORE INFORMATION
Contact Deanna Wood, Texas Wax Communications Committee Chair -
972.345.9968 or deanna.wood@verizon.net

TEXAS WAX MISSION STATEMENT
Texas Wax is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support,
educate, and promote the efforts of its associate members in the
creation, exhibition and distribution of encaustic arts in Texas.
Texas Wax provides support and education for its associates through
workshops, seminars and group meetings regarding the use of the
medium, business advice and artistic review. Texas Wax promotes the
efforts of its associate members through group shows, digital media
and marketing materials. In addition to the services provided to its
associate members, Texas Wax promotes encaustic arts throughout the
state of Texas and beyond through programming, events and educational
materials that educate art collectors, art dealers, aspiring artists,
students and the general community.

--include completed entry form with your entry-

ENTRY FORM

Name:

Address:

Phone:

email:

The artist agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Texas Wax LLC from
and against any damages or losses sustained as a result of any design
that is not original. By submitting an entry the artist certifies that
he/she is the author of the material submitted to Texas Wax and that
if the entry is selected, Texas Wax and its licensees may reproduce,
distribute, publish, display, edit, modify, create derivative works
and otherwise use the material for any purpose in any form and on any
media. By submitting an entry the artist further agrees if his/her
entry is selected he/she will assign free of charge all exclusive and
transferable rights to use, publish, advertise, copy, modify, alter
and reproduce the logo in any possible manner (commercial and non-
commercial).

Signature:

Date:

--------------------------------------------------

Mail completed entry form to:
Texas Wax Logo Competition
5305 Bolm Rd, Unit6
Austin, TX 78721

TexasWAX/Houston January Meeting

2010-01-21T12:07:00.022-06:00

Meeting Place: Steffani Frideres (thank you, Steffani)

Attendees: Steffani Frideres, Julia Koivumaa, Cynthia Robertson, Gwen Plunkett, Suzanne Shield-Polk, Linda Walker
**********************************************
Gwen gave an overview of the executive committee meeting in Austin. Also, membership and memership dues were discussed. Everyone should email their information (name, email address, telephone #, etc.) to Roxy McCluskey. Gwen has Roxy's info.

-New logo designs for the Texas Wax website are being discussed and contest for new logo design will be announced soon.

-Gwen met with a TALA accountant Saturday to discuss artists responsibilities regarding collecting, reporting and paying sales tax. It depends on who actually makes the sales-the artist or artist's representative, ie, a gallery or designer. The party collecting the money is the responsible party.
When you make the sales yourself, you are the responsible party.

Anyone who buys to then resell is the responsible party for paying taxes. For instance, when an art consultant or designer buys directly from the artist, they are buying with the intent to resell. That cancels the artists responsibility for taxes. A contract stating such signed by both parties provides protection to the artist in case of audit.

Robert Schuller, CPA has a website that is devoted to the Business of Arts where you can find out more.
*******************************************************************************
The need for Texas Wax/Houston representatives on Texas Wax committees was stressed.
Gwen is the Program Chair for Texas Wax. She needs a Houston representative on her committee.

Suzanne Shield-Polk volunteered for Education (coordinate with Michelle Belton)
Julia Koivumaa volunteered for Communications (coordinate with Deanna Wood
Cynthia Robertson volunteered for Grants/Art Reviews (with Roxi McClosky)

Linda Walker volunteered to be secretary for the Houston group and is responsible for sending
out meeting information to members. Look for her e-mails in your mailbox.

Julia, Linda and Steffani have been invited to post information on the TexasWAX/Houston blog.
**************************************************************************
Promotion of our HIVE project was discussed and put as a priority for this year for the Houston Wax group.

Exhibition Opportunities in the works sponsored by TW: Possible juried show in Amarillo, August 2010. Particulars TBA.

Still time to submit for for the Luminous Layers, Contemporary Encaustics in Oswego, OR
Click Luminous Layers for information.

Combining encaustic work with printmaking was discussed at length. Elise Wagner,
Portland, OR artist will be in Houston February meeting Gwen. We talked about offering an encaustic/printmaking workshop later in the year
with Elise.
***********************************************
Things to think about if we have not done already:
-set up personal website and learn to blog!
-check out Joanne Matera's "Monday Morning Marketing"
-check out New England Wax website (for content)
-look for alternate meeting place for our monthly meetings that is more central

Next meeting will be February 21 at Julia Koivumaa's house (thank you Julia). Reminders will be emailed to you.

To be discussed:
- venues for monthly meetings (bring ideas and results of investigation)
- venues for Texas Wax/Houston shows (bring ideas and/or results of investigation)
***********************************************
Encaustic Workshop at Lonestar College, CyFair starts Feb. 5.

************************************************************************
Member News:
Steffani Frederes has work in the up-coming exhibition
LoneStar College Kingwood and Tomball Faculty Art Exhibition
at University of Houston - Clear Lake (2700 Bay Area Blvd, Clear Lake, TX)
Exhibition runs: Feb 1-Mar 25 2010
Reception: Friday, February 5, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Gwen Plunkett has an exhibition, Collections: Ink, Paper, Wax; Work by Gwendolyn Plunkett at San Jacinto College Central (8060 Spencer Hwy., Pasadena, TX )
Exhibition runs: Feb 1 - Feb 19, 2010
Reception: Thursday, Feb 4, 11:00 - 1:00
Artist talk at 11:30.

December Notes

2009-12-18T11:08:00.045-06:00

Work above by Cynthia Robertson.

If you missed our holiday party last Sunday at Cynthia Robertson's house, you missed a very yummy treat. She served us the best Gumbo I've eaten recently along with a large pot of greens (mustard, I think) and on the side, corn bread of course and a pot of pig tails and necks. Soul Food Yum!!!
Of course we all brought yummy appetizers and dessert but the Gumbo (chicken, sausage, shrimp, crab, maybe oysters too) deserved 5 stars. Cynthia sent a bowl of gumbo home with me and it was even better the next day. My mom, who made wonderful gumbo too, said hers always tasted better the next day. Both days were good for me. Well, I loved the greens too. Southern and Soul!

Thank you, Cynthia, for your wonderful hospitality and yummy food.

Members who attended brought a small encaustic painting to swap. That was fun too. I came home with one of Cynthia's paintings. See top of post.

****************************************************************************************
Work above: Julia Koivumaa, Atlantis; Encaustic Collage on panel

Scroll back to Thursday, Dec. 10 and the talk at MFAH, How Artists Think.
The talk was part of a summer education program at the museum for patrons wanting to learn more about how to look at and better understand contemporary art.
One of our own, Julia Koivumaa was one of the artists on the panel of four. Julia's presentation was precise and to the point, (she was third to speak and was encouraged to speed up the process because the previous two artists had taken a bit more than their allotted time.)
She works mostly with the medium of encaustics (beeswax and damar resin) and photography. The works she presented this night were mixed media encaustic paintings with collaged photos.
Ideas referenced in this series of new work are time, memory, changing attitudes.

It took the others a bit more time to get to their point but certainly they enlightened us about their thinking and creative processes as well.
Nerves get in the way sometimes and it is just plain hard to be literal about non-literal information. Perhaps that was a good thing for the audience to see....just how hard it is to speak about conceptual work and how difficult it is to speak directly about a process that is so non-linear.

Along with Julia on the panel were artists Jason Dibley, Armando Rodriguez and Nathanial Donnett.
Jason Dibley, artist/photographer is Program Coordinator at the Houston Center for Photography here in Houston. Jason stages his imagery with sometimes real objects and sometimes cut-outs that he has made himself. He directs light on the objects casting shadows on the wall. These cast images are what he shoots. The relationship of the particular objects (size and scale, etc)projected in shadow juxtaposed with a bit of drawn element plus the title, create a sort of visual pun. The photographs from the series he talked about, like the one below, are all quite small.

Image above: Jason Dibley, The Engineer, 2006.
Silver Gelatin Print. 5 x 4 1/2inches (Image from Artist profiles HCP page, click image to go there for more images)

Armando Rodriguez works in various media including photography, printmaking (etching, lithography, and monotype), graphic design and bookmaking. In addition to teaching at Art League Houston, he also works for the Houston Chronicle and in the education department of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Armando said he enjoys the mystery of working intuitively, not knowing just what the final outcome will be.

Work above by Armando Rodriguez (Image from Art League Intstructor page. Click image to go there.)

Nathaniel Donnett says his work has been influenced by the conceptual work of Joseph Kosuth. He pays homage to that artist making use of some of Kosuth's visual strategies but the shift in imagery and use of object Donnett utilizes directly references his own agenda. Clicking on Donnett's name will take you to a Youtube video of Nathaniel talking about his work.

The artist talking part was my favorite part of the presentation of the two hours but the slide comparisons that Chelsea Schlievert and Lauren Fretz, educators in the MFAH's Education Department presented was also very interesting and informative with audience participation encouraged. It was sort of a mini art appreciation course condensed in one evening. The works they compared were works from the MFAH collection and available for us to see in person. Comparisons paired two different artists use of color or line or compositional strategy, etc.
Amedeo Modigliani's portrait of Leopold Zborowski, c. 1916 and Cesar Augusto Martinez's Bato con Sunglasses provided one such comparison.

The third element of the two hours was at the end when the audience was broken into four smaller groups and sent out into the museum with one of the artists from the panel to discuss a couple of paintings (that artist's choice) in the collection.

Thanks to the MFAH's Education Department, Chelsea Schlievert and Lauren Fretz as well as to the four artists on the panel for this program.

How Artists Think

2009-12-09T12:11:00.014-06:00

Julia Koivumaa, TexasWAX member will be one of the panelists in the How Artists Think discussion this Thursday evening Dec. 10th, at the MFAH. Admission is free but space is limited so please make a reservation by sending it to lectures@mfah.org. You will receive a confirmation from them via e-mail.

Meet in America General Conference Room, Mezzanine of Audrey Jones Beck Building.

This talk is a follow up to the How to Look at Contemporary Art classes held this summer. How Artists Think invites museum visitors to think about not only their relationship to a work of art but to the artist as well.

Texas Wax Houston November Meeting at Menil

2009-11-13T09:21:00.022-06:00

Mummy Portrait of a Man, Egypt, Fayum region Roman, ca. 150–200

Robert Gober's Untitled, 2005 in the reinstallation of works in the modern-contemporary galleries in the Menil Collection. Curator Franklin Sirmans. Read about it Here. Photo: Hester + Hardaway

Remember, our November meeting is this Sunday, Nov. 15 at the Menil Collection at 2:30. If you are interested in learning more about Texas Wax and or painting with wax, please feel free to join there.

What will we be doing there, you ask? The Menil has recently rearranged their Modern and Contemporary gallery potentially providing new insights and conversations between some of the artists in their collection. For us, it is Brice Marden's Seasons (encaustic) hanging near Jasper John's encaustics placed near Robert Gober's piece of cheese (wax and hair?) under glass perhaps. Also the Fayum Mummy Portraits in the Antiquities Gallery.

Brice Marden's The Seasons 1974-75 Photo:Hickey-Robertson

Talk over food afterwards. Hope to see you there. Don't forget!

November-Celebrating Robert

2009-11-13T09:11:00.006-06:00

If you didn't get out to CyFair last week to see Robert's Offrenda, below are some images of it I received from Dave and Suzanne. It was assembled at Lonestar College-CyFair in the lobby of the Fine Arts Building last week by Robert's friends and family but was only up for a few days.

Texas Wax Houston October meeting

2009-10-28T10:32:00.022-05:00

Thanks to Linda Walker for hosting our October meeting at her home. Suzanne Shield-Polk, Elaine Theuner, Susan Crowson, Linda, of course and Gwen were in attendance.

Gwen brought in a can of shellac and some Mica flakes and powder and demonstrated how Patricia Seggebruch describes the technique in her book Encaustic Workshop, setting it on fire while still wet. Linda played with it some on one of her pieces below. Of course we did all this out side.

Below is Gwen's demo piece. First we sopped in some shellac with a paper towel and set the wet shellac on fire. Then, we saturated a bit of the paper towel and cord with shellac and placed it onto the piece then set it on fired. Later, when the shellac was dry, Gwen hit the surface with a small torch to see how it could be manipulated dry. (see top right side)

Our November meeting place has changed. We will meet at the Menil that Sunday, (November 15th) instead of at Suzanne's house. There will more about that meeting in another post.

Linda and Gwen reported on the joint group meeting they attended in September that was held in Austin at the Dougherty Arts Center. It was a lot of fun visiting with everyone and informative as well. Austin member-associates (those who wanted to) shared their work with everyone. Each talked about particular techniques they use, ideas that inform their work, and a bit of their history with the medium. It was a great meeting to launch our newly formed statewide organization, Texas Wax. Thanks to Sharon and all the Austin members who helped getting that together.
Below are Sharon, Kristy, Kevin and Linda in front of the Dougherty Arts Center.
Go to the sidebar for a slide show of more images from the Austin meeting.

Extended Gallery Hours at Bosque for McGehee Exhibition

2009-09-21T09:33:00.004-05:00

See Slide Show on side bar to the right for images of exhibition at Bosque Gallery.

Bosque Gallery has extended the hours for Robert McGehee's exhibition 'An Artist's Journey' to M-F 11-4 pm.

Robert McGehee Exhibition Traveling to Bosque Gallery

2009-09-17T09:23:00.012-05:00

"An Artist's Journey" Robert McGehee's memorial exhibition opens next week at Bosque Gallery on the CyFair Campus of Lonestar College. The reception is Thursday, Sept. 24 from 4:30 to 6:30. Gallery hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from eleven o'clock til two o'clock.

An ofrenda is being planned adjacent to the Bosque gallery in honor of Robert. He was a great fan of the practice of ofrenda altar-making and arranged for several campus events and presentations on the subject. He would be very pleased.

Bosque Gallery is part of the Fines Arts program at the CyFair Campus of Lonestar College located at 9191 Barker-Cypress Road. The gallery is located in the Fine Arts building on the south-east side of the campus.

Succesful Museum Day at HCCC

2009-09-14T10:47:00.007-05:00

Thanks first go out to Jason Kishell, Artist-in-Residence Coordinator at HCCC, and HCCC for inviting TexasWAX to participate in Gathering of the Guilds, HCCC's part of Museum Day in Houston. Over 600 people came through despite the rainy day. Visitors were very enthusiastic and interested to see what we were doing with wax, many surprised that we were using wax as a painting medium.
A huge THANKS to Suzanne Shield-Polk and Steffani Frideres who joined me for the day. We answered many questions about the encaustic medium and about the TexasWAX organization, while at the same time, we each demonstrated various encaustic painting techniques.
It was busy all day and at times, very crowded at our tables with all three of us fielding questions and painting at the same time. It was fun and exciting to see so much interest, enthusiasm and awe.
Sadly, I did not bring my camera so there are no images.

TexasWAX/Houston at Gathering of the Guilds this Saturday

2009-09-09T00:22:00.005-05:00

Saturday, September 12th
From 10am to 5pm
TexasWAX/Houston artists will demonstrate encaustic painting techniques at
Gathering of the Guilds at Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts this Saturday, September 12th.

Gathering of the Guilds at Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts is part of the Museum Day event that happens every year in Houston's museum district. All museums participating offer free admission, transportation, with demonstrations and hands-on activities at some locations.

Robert McGehee/Memorial Exhibition

2009-09-02T16:25:00.005-05:00

Below: Robert McGehee at Houston Community College Gallery in 2001 installing one of his pieces for the Faculty show that year. I didn't have my camera last evening so the images posted here from other sources. Some of them like this one were not in the memorial exhibit.

The majority of the work presented in Robert McGehee’s memorial exhibition at LSC-North Harris was last evening was from his latest venture into the medium of encaustics but there were paintings in acrylic, works on paper including intaglio prints and drawings and even some of his beautiful painted Porcelain pieces, as well. All the work, however, was very much in keeping with the themes he talked about in his statement below.

“My current work deals with the symbiotic relationship between cellular (physical) life and spiritual existence. Cellular life consists of health, disease, pain, passion, age, life cycles, regeneration, body fluids, blood, and death. Spiritual essence could include love, hate, suffering, joy, and determination. The co-mingling of these two states of being is of great interest in my work. I am currently working on some imagery concerned with the precise moment physical life and spirit both combine and separate. This line of work began within the body and centered upon the internal physical world. Most of the early work centered on blood and disease. I then moved into a cellular exploration and have now evolved into exploring the melding and separation of the physical (cellular) and the spiritual. I would like to develop a show that filled the gallery with cellular and spiritual imagery and that would evoke a feeling of life and regeneration.”

The large painting leaning against the wall to the left is also Robert's work.
These two images are taken from archives of the Houston Community College SW Art Gallery Site.

The memorial exhibition will travel to LSC-CyFair campus later in the month for a short run so there is opportunity for you to still see his work if you can’t make it to Houston before the closing at North Harris on Sept. 18th. It is worth your time.

Below are more images of Robert's work.

TexasWAX/Houston Announcements

2009-08-28T09:58:00.008-05:00

AUGUST 30th at 2:30
TexasWAX/Houston meets Sunday, August 30 at 2:30. Gwen's house is the meeting place. Contact her for directions.

SEPTEMBER '09
Robert McGehee - An Artist's Journey
A commemorative exhibition of Robert's works will be displayed from August 24 - September 18
in the Fine Arts Gallery at Lonestar College, North Harris campus.

Receptions are Tuesday, September 1, 2009 one at 1 p.m. and another at 6:30 p.m.
I hope everyone can attend.

Saturday, September 12th
From 10am to 5pm
TexasWAX/Houston artists will demonstrate encaustic painting techniques during the day at
Gathering of the Guilds at Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts.

September 12th is Museum Day in Houston's museum district. Free admission,
transportation, hands-on activities at some locations, and demonstrations.
We are pleased to be a part of this event.

Correction

2009-06-22T22:37:00.002-05:00

My apologies to readers and to Joanne Mattera. Actually, Joanne was the curator of the Wax Libris exhibition I mentioned in the previous conference post. I have corrected that in the post as well.
So sorry.

Conference Report - Exhibitions

2009-06-21T11:22:00.114-05:00

Third Annual Encaustic Painting Conference at Montserrat College of Art

Beauty and Its Opposites Montserrat Award - Gregory Wright

The Conference was great this year, as usual. The weather cooperated and stayed cool. No AC needed most days. Many thanks to Joanne Mattera and all of the Montserrat people whose efforts made this event possible for the 3rd year in a row.

Elena De La Ville-Director's Award

The sessions I sat in on were helpful, interesting and worth my time. The exhibitions were well presented and the work substantial. There were more exhibitions this year with even one rogue exhibition off campus. That was fun. (Hmm. Ideas for next year.)

Besides the Beauty and Its Opposites---this year's juried exhibition at 301 Gallery, there were three other exhibitions associated with the conference.

Wax and Wane Experimental, work from Miles Conrad's "Off the Wall: Encaustic in Three Dimensions" workshop at last year's post-conference was in the front window of the 301 Gallery.
Participating artists in this exhibition were Dawna Bemis, Linda Clark, Jody Colella, Miles Conrad, Brandei Eiger, Ruth Gooch, Tessa Grundon, Marsha Lipsitz, Nancy Lowe, Ruth Sack Isabel Santis. Eleanor Hazel Trabaudo, and Joyce Vinson.

Luminous Landscape Invitational was in the second floor hall of the Hardie Building.
One of Rodney Thompson's Landscapes above. Two paintings below by Alexandra Masino.
Participating artists in Luminous Landscape are Lindsay Bentis, Debra Claffey, Linda Cordner, Janet Bartlett Goodman, Kimberly Kent, Dorothy Simpson Krause, Maura Joy Lustig, Julie Shaw Lutts, Alexandre Masino, Tracy Spadafora, Mary Taylor, Rodney Thompson, Charyl Weissbach and Diane Bowie Zaitlin. This exhibition will up up through the end of June. More of the landscapes can be seen on the Conference Blog sidebar and here.

And In the Round, Invitational---sculptural works by artists Debora Kapoor and Kim Bernard in the Schlosberg Gallery located on the first floor of the Hardie Building.
Above and below: A beautiful piece by Kim Bernard.

DetailPrayer Ball by Deborah Kapoor
Piece below is also by Deborah. Another invitational exhibition, Wax Libris---an exhibition of artist-made books that included encaustic as medium---was displayed on the shelves of the Paul Scott Library also located in the Hardie.
This exhibition was curated by Joanne Mattera and up through June.
Daniella Woolf, "B&W Book," 2008, paper, wax, fabric
Sandi Miot, "Found Out Along the Way," 2009, encaustic, graphite, and discarded books, 12 x 12 inches

Catherine Nash, "This Too Shall Pass," 2009, encaustic mixed-media assemblage, 7 x 13 x 4 inches
Participating artists were Jeanne Borofsky, Cari Hernandez, Supria Karmakar, Julie Shaw Lutts,
Sandi Miot, Cherie Mittenthal, Catherine Nash, Raymond Papka, Daniella Woolf, and Joanne Mattera. This exhibition was only up through the three days of the conference. You can see more of the books on the conference blog side bar.

Miles Conrad's Wax and Wane - Experiment in the window of 201 Gallery was perhaps my favorite. I loved the individual pieces as well as the concept of the exhibition which was an experiment to see how these wax pieces would fare in a west facing window. Some of the works were still hanging on the wall by the end of the conference but many had fallen to the floor. Looked like they were all still intact however.
The front window of 310 Gallery in Beverly. Wax and Wane Experimental. See a picture of the exhibit after pieces droped to the floor of the window click here and scroll down. This is Nancy Natale's blog and her conference report.

A difficult thing though to make that statement stick, ("My favorite exhibition") when I loved so much of the works in all the other shows as well. All in all, the total exhibition experience was one of the highlights of the conference.

Nicholas Capasso was the juror of Beauty and Its Opposites. He is Senior Curator at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts. He chose works by 20 artists. You will find the list of participants on the conference Blog. Most of the artists had two or three pieces in the exhibition. At the top of this post are the images of the two top award winner's, Gregory Wright and Elena De La Ville. Director's Award chosen by Joanne Mattera, and Montserrat Award by the Gallery Curator.

Below is an example Robin Luciano Beatty's work. She won the Conference Award. Two images and a detail below. Attendee's voted on their favorite piece.

Detail below.

Below: Paula Roland's Monotypes with light filtering through from behind. She received an Honorable Mention.
I have always liked her monotypes and paintings but I really love the direction her work heading these days. Seem more organic? Don't know, but they work for me.

One of Daniella Woolf's pieces was made with old canceled checks stitched together and waxed. Daniella has two other pieces in this show as well. I don't remember if it was this piece for which she received the Honorable Mention or if it was one of the others. I enjoyed them all but this one touched me in a personal way. My siblings and I found boxes of canceled checks and paycheck stubs in my mother's stuff when we were going through her things after she passed away. I didn't keep them but remember wondering how I could put them to use in my artwork. I'm glad Daniella didn't throw hers away.

Danielle Correia's paintings below struck a chord with me too but for a very different reason. I loved the humor and frivolity of the images as well as the way they were painted. She had others as well with this rabbit-head character playing around doing all sorts of things. These were the two larger pieces. Her work took an Honorable mention too.

Overall, I felt the show was very strong and I had a very difficult time choosing my favorite for the Conference Award. I won't post the whole show but below are a few more of my favorites.

Rodney Thompson's two pieces in the exhibition.

Below right: Cora Jane Glasser's
She and Debra Ramsay were the two rogues holding
the off-site exhibition. I took photo's while there
but they disappeared from my camera!
See their Youtube video.

Jane Allen Nodine

One of April Nomellini's Encaustic collages.

One of Kristin Swenson-Lintault's paintings.

These two below belong to Roberta Lee Woods. Her handmade papers thick with organic materials make up these pieces resembling tanned leather, especially in the one below.
I was drawn to these immediately because of the rough textural qualities and organic feel.

There are plenty more images I could post here but Whew! I'm ready for a break. More on the conference sessions in another post. Here is a link to a video of the reception.

June and the Conference

2009-06-03T22:00:00.007-05:00

It is June and conference time again. I am flying out in tomorrow morning, destination Boston and points beyond. Looking forward to the cooler weather, renewing older acquaintances, meeting new folks I've only met on-line, talking art, and, well, isn't that enough? On the way home I will spend a few days in New York visiting another artist friend.

Our Degrees show ended Sunday. It was a great run. Good comments, sales and lots of visitors. Thanks to all who helped make the exhibition a success. Special thanks to Max Harrison and Mike Kubis at M2 Gallery for sharing their space and all their hard work.

Other things happening: Deanna Wood of the Dallas/WAX has a new gig in Richardson, TX.
She and Bonny Leibowitz have opened The Encaustic Center focusing on painting in wax "in all its various forms."

See you at the conference.

Degrees Exhibition Reception

2009-05-10T10:10:00.019-05:00

Image above: Inside gallery looking out.

Many thanks to Max Harrison and Mike Kubis at M2 Gallery for hosting our first texasWAX members exhibition. It was hot, hot, hot, and I don't just mean the 90 degree temperature outside the gallery!
A great turnout and wonderful reception.

Below are some candid shot from the reception. Better images of the work will be added in a later post.

Participating artists by city:

Austin
Sharon Kyle-Kuhn, Juan Moreno, Marilyn Fenn, Chris White, Cari Washburn, Dianne Talley,
Luke Zimmerman, Haly Nagy, Daphne Holland, Carolyn Todd, Dan Zinno,
Kristy Darnell Battani, Roxi McCloskey Morris, Daphne Holland, Carolyn Todd

Dallas
Deanna Wood, Trayc Claybrook, Diane reader Dorn, Petty Epner, Janet Reynolds, Mary Wright,
Antoanetta Hillman, Bonny Leibowitz, Ivonne Acero, Junanne Peck, Jackie MacLelland,
Juliana Robles, Patty Rooney, Silvia Thronton, VET, Brett Dyer

Houston
Gwendolyn Plunkett, Suzanne Shield-Polk, Denise Stringer-Davis, Sue Balch, Sara Cooney
Julia Koivumaa, Elaine Thuener

San Antonio
Michelle Belto, Frankeen Price, Julie Jarvis Ogan, Steven Daluz, Deborah Houston, Joyce Howell, Elizabeth C. Preston, Adrian Highsmith, Hildegarde Slaughter, Johanna Gardner

Temperature Rising in Houston - Degrees Exhibition at M2 Gallery in Houston Heights

2009-05-05T10:52:00.007-05:00

Art Will Save Us All said...: I look forward to, “degrees” a group exhibition bringing together encaustic artists from Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Each city group make up the larger texasWAX network and members from one group are encouraged to submit works for or attend functions presented by any other group within the system. Fantastic artists from four of Texas’ most incredible cities, “It can’t get much hotter, can it?” The mercury is rising with anticipation of this event. Slip into something cool because “degrees” turns up the heat and shows Texans “the power of art.”

Robert McGehee

2009-04-14T00:34:00.011-05:00

Two Encaustic paintings by Robert McGehee in the faculty show at Bosque Gallery last year.

We were all saddened yesterday when we learned our dear friend and colleague Robert McGehee had passed away. Robert had been so brave in his valiant determination to win his battle with cancer. He was admitted to MD Anderson late last week with pneumonia but this time his body was just too weak.
He passed away around 2:30 a.m. Monday morning. His partner Dave and his family were with him when he passed.

Robert was instrumental in bringing Encaustics to Lonestar College-CyFair where he was a member of the Fine Art Faculty. He held two Encaustic workshops a year, during the fall and spring semesters, offering them through Continuing Ed. He was instrumental in securing the Encaustic Exhibition in the school's Bosque Gallery every other year.

Robert was a founding member of TexasWAX/Houston and actively participated when he could.

He was an excellent art instructor, artist and good friend.

We will miss him.

His funeral will be held Thursday at 1:00 p.m. at Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church.

FUSE - TexaxWAX/Houston Artists Show Work

2009-02-25T10:10:00.007-06:00

Member artists of TexasWAX/Houston are exhibiting their work at San Jacinto College-Central in Pasadena during the month of March. The exhibition closes on April 3rd.

The reception is scheduled for Monday, March 9th from 2:00 -5:00.

See images from Fuse Exhibition on the side bar to the right.

Postcard image: Fleshy Cakes is by Lufkin artist Denise Stringer-Davis.

March Meeting - Sunday, March 1

2009-02-23T23:28:00.004-06:00

Notice that our meeting has been moved up to this coming Sunday-March 1.
We will meet at Julia's house this time. Everyone who is participating in the exhibition at
San Jacinto College should bring their work to the meeting.

If you are an artist in the Houston area who works in encaustic or is interested in learning more about the medium, leave a comment below and someone will get back with you.

February Meeting

2009-02-09T23:01:00.008-06:00

L to R- Sara, Cynthia, Elaine , Jane, Denise, Julia, Gwen

Thanks to Sara for hosting our meeting this month and a very productive meeting it was.
We had a good group in attendance including our newest member Denise Stringer-Davis who drove over from Lufkin.
******************************************************************************************
HIVE project:
The hexagon panels were ready for delivery so members present were able to get those. Below is Scot Eddy with the panels complete. I picked them up in Austin on Friday.
Scot Eddy and his daughter with hexagon panels.
March meeting has been moved up a week to the first Sunday to accommodate members who
need to deliver work to be taken out to Pasadena for the FUSE exhibition. I will send out tags for each of you to fill out and attach to your work. Work must be wired and ready to hang. Please include any special instructions for hanging your work if there are any.

Julia volunteered to take care of publicity for our up-coming exhibitions.
*******************************************************************************************
DEGREES:
Julia is also checking into getting quotes on catering for the Degrees reception in May. She and I will both look into securing a bar tender for that evening.

We need to find out numbers from other groups who may attend the Degrees reception so that when we will approach hotels in the area for discounts for that weekend we will know approximately how many rooms we will need. I will take care of that.

Deanna in the Dallas group has volunteered to create a postcard for the Degrees show.
*******************************************************************************************
Denise and Jane both brought work to share with the group. That part is always fun.

January Meeting-2009 and the Following Week

2009-01-18T23:25:00.014-06:00

Our first meeting of the year was graciously hosted by Cynthia Robertson. Thanks Cynthia.
Even though we had a small gathering in attendance, it was good to get back in the swing of things and get a few things done.
**********************************************************************************
Thanks to Scot Eddy, a TexasWAX/Austin member, we had two prototype hexagon shaped substrates to choose from for our HIVE project. In December we decided on the 16 inch size. At this meeting we decided on the Luan because it was a bit lighter in weight and also a bit less costly than the Birch even though the Birch panel is beautiful. Scot says he can have them ready by end of February.
We ordered enough so each artist can buy three if they choose. Cost is $35 per panel.
I will drive to Austin to pick them up and pay for them. Artists will reimburse me.

Some members will create three dimensional work and/or multi-media pieces rather than the 2/D but may choose to do both.
********************************************************************************
Elaine Thuener, though not in attendance, spoke with me on Tuesday of last week regarding
the Heifer Project that "provides training and support for families in environmentally harsh regions who can use resource management and agriculture techniques to get the most out of their land." One of their projects is in the northwest region of Tanzania. Families there "are facing extreme hardships due to low incomes and a lack of knowledge for caring for the little resources that they have. This project aims to improve the lives of 751 farm families in 10 different communities over the course of five years by providing them with honeybees and fish fingerlings, plus specialized training in resource management, beekeeping and agroforestry."

Her suggestion was that we include an element of support to some group in need with part of sales or contributions we get. Something to consider anyway.
*********************************************************
Denise Stringer-Davis in Lufkin has suggested we include an educational component for school children. I think that is also very do-able. Not just as a presentation but possibly a related art project for high school artists or even elementary students.
*********************************************************
On another note....
We have also been offered an exhibition opportunity at San Jacinto College during the month of March. Dates are Mar 9 - April 3rd. Reception is Saturday 9:00-2:00.
We need a title for the exhibition.
Fusion is one suggestion. Another is Wax Works. I need to know asap!
**********************************************************
I still had some wax left from the trip to Vidor before Christmas for members to buy. I haven't worked with it yet. I have wax from both Vidor and Dadant in Paris, TX. I will make some medium soon-two batches-one with the Vidor beeswax and one with the Dadant beeswax to see if I note any differences. Of course, I also have the wax from RF Paints that is so nice broken down into granules. Price wise though, Vidor wax is most reasonable, then Dadant, then RF and other suppliers.
***********************************************************
All griddles are taken, I am told, in Robert's Encaustic Workshop this semester. Great going, Robert.
***********************************************************
Cynthia suggested we hold another workshop at Cy-Fair for those wanting to learn how to build the substrates with cradles, make medium and a few other things. It is in proposal stage and probably won't make it for this semester as we hoped. The schedules were already out and we were a bit late I am afraid. We still may be able to do something like that but not out at school. My studio perhaps. Have to think on it.
***********************************************************
We also talked about the possibility of holding a "mini-conference" the weekend of the "Degrees" reception. Securing hotel discounts for those attending the reception and staying over night is something we need to do whether or not we consider it a conference. We need to talk more about this at our next meeting.
***********************************************************
Other things in the wind---the Austin group had their meeting yesterday and used it as a planning meeting for the coming year. Some very good ideas are on the burner as I write this
that impacts, in a positive way, all four, excuse me, five TexasWAX groups. Yes, I said five. Amarillo is our fifth and newest addition. Stay tuned for more about this.
***********************************************************
Congratulations to both Sharon Kyle-Kuhn (Austin group) and Deanna Wood in (Dallas group) on their respective exhibitions.
Sharon's work is included in a group invitational exhibition in Chicago curated by Eileen Golberg called Tangible Wax: Contemporary Works in Wax. Read about it here.

Deanna's exhibition, Seeking Shelter, is a solo show at the Leslie Powell Foundation and Art Gallery in Lawton, Oklahoma. It runs Jan. 10 through Feb. 28.
***********************************************************
Our February meeting is scheduled for the 8th (second Sunday) at Sara Cooney's house. We began our plans for the new year back at the November meeting but we only got a few months into 2009 so let's all try to attend this meeting and finish our year's plans.

Please RSVP to Gwen whether you will attend the February meeting or not.

See you on the 8th.

Working to shine ......

2008-12-29T10:43:00.019-06:00

You may remember an earlier post Mixed Media, Mixed Blessings... on my other blog about this artist Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak when I visited her studio in the spring. Much of Lydia's current work is personal response to current political issues, but she has for some years now been addressing personal/political issues related to her Ukranian heritage.
From Lydia,
"This year marked the 75-year anniversary of the 1932-33 Famine in Ukraine, the Holodomor.
The following article and images documenting Houston's commemoration of the Holodomor appeared in the December 29, 2008 issue of The Houston Chronicle, page 1, Section B (City and State) and online on here."
All images curtesy of The Houston Chronicle and Lydia Balahutrak.

Above: Child II Shrouds
Image below is Lydia holding the above work. Click on the image below to hear her speak about her work and this issue.

Ole Joe Clark Gone to the Bees!

2008-12-04T13:44:00.022-06:00

Produced by The Honeybee Project, this is a fun video. I love the new words to the traditional Bluegrass Old Joe Clark song! Makes me want to get out my fiddle!
Teenager Todd Elliot is the musician, singer and beekeeper in the video.
This project (The Honeybee Project) is an educational project designed for children (K-6) to raise awareness and engage them in the world they live. Further, their "goals are to educate, raise awareness, and demystify the honeybee for children while helping them form a connection to nature."
Go to their web site for more about them and what they do.

Encaustics At Large - Shawna Moore:Encaustic Painting

2008-11-30T11:55:00.012-06:00

Check out Shawna's web site too.

TexasWAX/November Meeting

2008-11-18T18:46:00.023-06:00

Painting by Deanna Wood, TexasWAX/Dallas from Some Like It Hot, TAM Port Arthur, TX

Our November meeting was held Sunday the 16th at Gwen's house. In attendance besides Gwen, were Robert McGehee, Suzanne Shield-Polk, Susan Crowson, Cynthia Robertson, Julia Kiovumaa, and our newest member, Sara Cooney. Sara recently moved to Houston, (La Porte, TX) from San Francisco welcomed to Texas by big Ike!

Next Year's Schedule:
It was a very productive meeting in that we were able to mark off some of the items on our t0-do list for this month. Number one was our schedule for next year. Well, we only got as far as April but that is a start and perhaps we can finish the calendar for 2009 at our December meeting.

Here is the schedule we have so far:
December 16 - 6 PM (Tuesday evening) at Julia's house

Back to Sunday meetings in 2009, this year on the second Sunday of the month.
Our meetings usually begin at either 2:30 but sometimes we begin at 3:00.

January 11th - Cynthia Robertson's house
February 8th - Sara Cooney's house
March 8th - Robert's house
April 12th - Darke Gallery, 5421 Feagan @ Detering.

(I need to make sure this date is good with Linda Swaynos at Darke first) (Julia, Gwen, (both Houston artists) and Sharon Kyle-Kuhn (who is from TexasWAX/Austin) will be exhibiting some of their work along with Linda Swaynos at Darke during the month of April.)

Painting by Julia Koivumaa from Some Like It Hot, TAM, Port Arthur, TX

Projects:
We continued our discussion about combining an exhibition proposal combined with a program or panel discussion regarding the disappearance of the bee population.

Check out the TexasWAX/Dallas latest blog post regarding the program they presented at MAC in Dallas. Their presentation is called Global Swarming. I like it.

Workshop and guest instructor:
We are also hoping to bring in an artist from outside our group to do a workshop. Several artist's name were put forward. We are hoping to get an artist who uses wax in 3/D. Julia offered to make contact with one of the artists on the list to find out about availability and fees. We are thinking of doing this in conjunction with Cy-Fair College and the Encaustic program Robert has started there. Cynthia Robertson offered to write a proposal for a mini-grant to help fund this endeavor through the school's Breaking Boundaries program this year.

Some Like it Hot:
Last but not least, we talked about the Some Like it Hot exhibition in Port Arthur. Many thanks again to TAM (Texas Artists Museum) in Port Arthur for hosting the exhibition and in particular, Sandy Trevino-Wigley the Interim Executive Director there who was so helpful.
And again, many thanks to Junane Peck and Darlyne Hartman of the Dallas group who were instrumental in getting this exhibition in Port Arthur and for inviting the Houston group to participate.

I don't remember if this came up at the meeting or not but regarding Some Like it Hot exhibition, I know Junanne would like for that exhibition to travel to other cities in Texas. She is hoping for Houston next, but since we are planning the Degrees exhibition in May at M2 Gallery, I don't know if Houston is the best place for it to go next. I like the idea of that exhibition traveling and picking up art as it moves along though. We will have to think about that more.

New Mexico:
Junanne in Dallas was contacted recently by artist Harriette Tsosie in the New Mexico wax group and they are interested in putting together a joint NM/Texas exhibition. You can check out their site here.

Degrees at M2 Gallery:
About the Degrees exhibition, Deanna Wood has been working on the prospectus for it she says it is almost complete. I will send it out when I get it.

Robert's Encaustic workshop:
FYI for anyone reading this in the Houston area who is interested learning about encaustics, Robert McGehee teaches an Encaustic workshop through the Continuing Ed program at Lonestar College - CyFair every spring and fall. The class is limited to eight students and the cost is very reasonable. Every other year, Bosque Gallery at CyFair College hosts and Encaustic
exhibition.

See everyone in December at Julia's.

Some Like it Hot in at TAM in Port Arthur

2008-11-11T22:45:00.014-06:00

Suzanne Shield-Polk

Here are some images of our exhibition at Texas Artists Museum in Port Arthur. The reception was well attended. Artists Junanne Peck and Darlyne Hartman (TexasWAX/Dallas members) were instrumental in arranging for this to happen. Thanks to them both for all their work.

Thanks to the people at TAM for the lovely space and reception.

Below are some of the images I took at the reception. I will just post a few. Check out TexasWAX/Dallas for more.

Dian Reader Dorn

Mirtha Aertker
L. Diane Reader Dorn Center two: Susan Crowson Far Right: Linda Walker

Charlotte Cornett
Elaine Thuene
Center: Gwendolyn Plunkett On either end: Julia Kiovumaa
L. Larry C. Kitchen
Center: Nancy Lea

Sandy Trevino-Wigley, Interim Executive Director

Peggy Epner and Carmen Menza
Franzi Bader

Trayc Claybrook's work

Choral group from Lamar (They were great, by-the-way! Such fun!)

Trayc Claybrook
Sylvia Thronton

Cheryl McClure

Julia Kiovumaa

Deanna Wood
Elaine Thuener
Top: Robin Walker Lower: Larry C. Kitchen

Some Like It Hot in Port Arthur

2008-10-30T22:51:00.005-05:00

TexasWAX/Houston September and October Meeting and Sister Bee

2008-10-16T16:58:00.023-05:00

I have included in this post the minutes to both the September and October meeting.
"Ike" came along and really messed things up for awhile and I just never got back to it.

Julia Kiovumaa graciously hosted the September meeting at her house in the Heights. Thanks Julia, for the tasty Thai nibblers. They were great. Your house is lovely and it was really great to see more of you work.

We had a small group in attendance. Besides Julia, in attendance were Cynthia Robertson, Suzanne Shield-Polk, Gwen Plunkett, Robert McGehee.

One of the things we discussed at the September meeting was our schedule for doing demos at two Houston locations later in September. (Jerry's Artarama and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.) Because of the Ike however, these activities have been put on hold until a later time.

Other topics of discussion were mainly centered around exhibition plans for our TexasWAX group show (Degrees) in 2009.

I did a show-and-tell with some melting pots I purchased at IKEA in the children's department. Some of the artists who gave presentations at the conference in June were using these lidded pots. I was told where they were purchased and decided to get some for myself. Unfortunately, you have to buy them in sets which proves not so economical. I purchased two sets even so.

Julia gave us a tour of her studio which is set up in her garage just behind her house and of course we got to see more of her work, some still under way. She works quite large and we are all impressed.

We ran out of time though to watch the Sister Bee movie by Laura Tyler.

That we did do at the October meeting at Robert's house, and thank you Robert, for having the meeting at your house.
I just want to say here that it has been a special treat this past year meeting at various members homes. I feel we get to know each other on a different level doing this. Thanks to all of you, Suzanne, Cynthia, and Billie, Julia, and Robert who have generously hosted meetings.

Having said that, we are discussing the possibility of securing a permanent location that can be used for meetings, workshops and, why not? even exhibition space. Something like the space that Sharon Kyle-Kuhn has secured in Austin. Money is always the first obstacle and not just money but whose money. But it is do-able. If we decide to do this, I am sure we will figure out a way. In the mean time, Billie is on the lookout.

We had a small group in attendance. Suzanne, Cynthia and Julia were missing this month but we were joined by two new members, Susan Crowson, Elaine Thuener. The other guest was Sandy Haubien (whom we are trying to recruit.) She came with Billie Forney.
Gwen Plunkett and Robert McGehee were the other members present.

Of course, after watching Sister Bee, we were all "a buzz" about the propagation of bees, the many ways our lives are enhanced with bees and bee products, and possibilities for us as artists who depend bees for our medium, to help heighten awareness of problems facing bees and bee keepers alike today. We talked about how the Dallas Wax group is addressing Colony Collapse Disorder (CAD) with a panel discussion at MAC in Dallas this November 12th at 6:30.
Elaine Thuener, one of the new members is also a volunteer with the Houston Arboretum and we discussed the possibility of working up something with them regarding this issue.

Other news, the Dallas group is taking their exhibition "Some Like It Hot" on the road to Port Arthur at the Texas Artists Museum in November. They extended an invitation to our members to exhibit with them there. We thank Junanne and texaxWAX/dallas for including us in that exhibition.

Time line for Some Like It Hot:
October 31 - All work should be delivered to Gwen by this date.
November 1 - installation (Gwen will deliver Houston's work and help install)
November 9, Sunday, 2:30 - 4:00 - reception - demo at 3 pm (Gwen from the Houston group will do the demo)
November 29 - Work comes down. Gwen will bring Houston's work back.

Regarding our joint four group exhibition in 2009, "Degrees", we have secured a venue and a date.
MSquared or M2 Gallery on 19th in Houston Heights is hosting the show in May. All particulars are forth coming in the form of a prospectus as soon as all those particulars have been established.

Welcome again to the newest texasWAX group---TexasWAX/SanAntonio.
Congratulations.

What is the Bee Team?

2008-10-09T23:02:00.014-05:00

Shannon Newby, the founder of the Bee Team on Etsy, interviewed Deanna Wood recently about TexasWAX.

"Hi Deanna. Can you tell the BEE team a bit about your most recent encaustic group show “Some Like it Hot”?

Our group, TexasWAX/Dallas, sent a proposal to the venue, The Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas. We had been accepted and we were on their calendar for next year, but a spot was suddenly open and they asked us to exhibit in conjunction with an exhibit of women printmakers. We rallied and were able to get everything together in a fairly short amount of time. Janet Reynolds, the member who brought the venue to our attention and was instrumental in preparing the proposal, curated the show among the members....."

Read more of this interview on Etsy at this Bee Team site.

But what is the Bee Team I asked?

"This team seeks to exist to unite encaustic artists on Etsy and to begin collaborative projects (such as tutorials, skill-shares, and group shows) to bring awareness about the uses of beeswax in art. We are also avidly supporting beekeepers and organizations who exist to preserve the future of bees." from BEE Team site.

Notice that each BEE Team link in this post takes you to a different part of their site.
Check out the whole site for a better understanding of what they are about. I find it it interesting, fun, and educational.
Plus you can shop!

TexasWAX/Houston October meeting

2008-10-07T23:06:00.012-05:00

Due to Ike, we delayed our October meeting which will be held this coming Sunday, Oct. 12th from three to five o'clock. Robert McGehee will host this month's meeting.

As usual, if you are an artist who works in this medium and are interested in joining our meeting,
contact Gwen for more information.

As mentioned in my previous post, while Ike was making its way across the coast of Texas I was in New York for a wedding. I was near enough to Kingston and took the opportunity to visit RF Paints located in that town. It was a quiet Saturday morning and only two people were in the store. I was able to take a tour of the facility and do a bit of shopping. Topping the visit off was getting to see artist Ed Angell's work was on exhibition in the RF Gallery. I have seen some of these pieces on several sites on the web but this was great to see the exhibit in person.

Power is Back-We Can Melt, Melt and Fuse

2008-09-28T12:04:00.007-05:00

Ike came through Houston (well, most of eastern Texas and some of Lousiana) a couple of weeks ago. Accept for the cool front that passed through the day after Ike and dropped enough rain that flooded my studio and many other places as well, the weather has been pretty good to those of us without any electrical power. Only a couple of really hot humid days and nights....! Good wishes to those of you up in Maine with Kyle. Hope he misses you.

I haven't been able to contact all the TexasWax/Houston folks to see if all were okay. I hope everyone is safe. We just got my power back on yesterday. Two weeks and a day it was out and I feel lucky to have power now. Phone lines have been up for some time and if you get your internet connection is though the phone line you are good to go there too. If it comes through cable, well, in some areas, your are stuck even though you have power.

I still have to reorganize my studio and get things back in place before I can work in there again but the space needed a good clean and sweep anyway. I mostly lost paper products...drawing paper, mat board a few drawings too large to fit in my flat files. Nothing really precious was lost.

In this part of Houston every thing is getting back to order. Nearer the coast, like in Galveston, the situation is much different. Buchanan Gallery for instance, suffered much damage and loss. Fortunately, owner, Kathy Buchanan, who didn't evacuate, survived Ike upstairs above the gallery as the waters began rising and winds whipped through the space taking out the walls. I'm sure she has plenty of stories to tell.

I am grateful for only minor damages and lingering lack of power. Others suffered much worse fates.

My experience of the actual storm however, was via the weather channel on a TV in a hotel in Poughkeepsie, NY. I was there to attend my nephew's wedding. It was difficult, but I managed to get out of town that Friday as Ike approached. I returned home to Houston three days later, Monday evening, along with technicians who were coming to help repair things here, Houstonians returning from vacations in Europe and such. We were all were worried about what we would find.

The good part.....Poughkeepsie is near Kingston where RF Paints is located. I did get over to the store and gallery for a short visit and spending spree that Saturday. Fun!

Palimpsest - Trayce Ware at Joan Wich - Mixed Media Encaustics

2008-09-06T08:47:00.012-05:00

Now showing at Joan Wich Gallery on Montrose.....Palimpsest - Trayce Ware's exhibition of encaustic paintings and house-shaped sculpture is on view through September.

On the long wall facing you as you enter the gallery is a series of twelve inch square paintings, each a variation of the one pictured here. Elsewhere in the gallery were her larger paintings and sculptural pieces.

I fell in love with the sculptural pieces. Sorry. I don't have images of these. There were four in all and sized from about two to three feet tall. They were all on pedestals. Inset into the sides of several of the houses were small maybe two inch deep indentions that ran either vertically or horizontally. These made perfect little shelves or windows into which are placed little treasures, perhaps talisman. These secreted spaces draw you closer to the work making the viewing experience very intimate.
Echoing the house and the past with its secrets are the series of paintings from which the two below are a part.
Tracye Wear
Good Housekeeping #1, 2007
encaustic on wood panel
12 x 12 inches

Tracye Wear
Good Housekeeping #4, 2007
encaustic on wood panel
12 x 12 inches

The painting below is one of the Ware's larger pieces in this exhibition.

Tracye Wear
Family Tree, 2006
encaustic on wood panel
40 x 30 inches

It is really exciting to see a major gallery in Houston showing and selling encaustic paintings and helping our art audience overcome any fear they have of the fragility of this medium.

All images here are from the gallery web site.

Call for Texas Artists Working in Wax

2008-09-05T09:57:00.009-05:00

Looking for Texas artists who work in Encaustics. Provide information about yourself along with links to your images in the Comments box below.

TexasWAX/Houston September Meeting and Invitation

2008-09-05T08:59:00.006-05:00

Our (TW/H) September meeting is this Sunday (Sept. 7th) at three o'clock at Julia Koivumaa's studio. Bring any work or anything else you wish to share.
Gwen is bringing the movie "Sister Bee" by artist Laura Tyler for us to view.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

This is also an invitation to Houston and surrounding area artists who work in this medium to attend our meeting.
Please leave your information in the Comment section below and someone will respond.

TexasWAX Convergence in Austin

2008-08-24T10:50:00.035-05:00

Last week, Deanna Wood (TexasWax/Dallas),and I (TexasWAX/Houston) met up with Sharon Kyle-Kuhn in Austin for an over-night stay at Sharon's to consolidate plans for an upcoming exhibition (TBA) of our (four---read on---4) groups , to discuss possible workshops and retreats for our Texas members in 2009 and just to share ideas. On Saturday morning we attended the monthly meeting of TexasWax/Austin at Bay6 Studios and met many of the member artists including Michelle Belto, who is leaving the Austin group to form the fourth of our Texas organizations, TexasWAX/San Antonio. Their first meeting will be in September. Cheers to Michelle and the artists in San Antonio.

One of the topics of conversation at the meeting regarded issues around the pricing of artwork, from "how one comes up with the price?" to "is it correct to have work in different galleries at different prices?" See this post of Art-tistics regarding those issues.

Aside: Art-tistics is a great blog to subscribe to. The three writers are Joanne Mattera, Bill Gusky and F. Lennox Campello. Interesting topics, good writers. I like it.

Some members brought in work to share. Fun! Scott shared samples of the substrates he builds and sells along with a price list. The meeting ended with a swapping of "stuff " people had brought in.

I left the meeting and Austin feeling very enthusiastic about our future plans and very grateful to the all the Austin members for their hospitality.

Above: Sharon smiling at the camera.

Above: Saturday morning meeting of TexasWAX/Austin group with Caroline's work on paper on gallery wall behind us.

Above: Scott sharing some samples of substrates he can build for you. This one is like a shield. He will make them to your specifications, even free form shapes.
Above: I am in the front gallery looking back to Sharon's studio through the open door. The two doors on your left in the photo lead into the studios of Caroline Wright and Darvin Jones. Work on walls of gallery by Caroline.

Above and Below: Sharon's studio is in the back of the Bay6 Studios. I am standing between the space above and the space below taking these photos. I love this screened-in patio space. Must be nice in cooler weather but even when hot like the take I was there, it provided a lovely breeze.

On a personal note, Sharon generously invited Deanna and I to spend Friday night at her lovely home in the hills of north Austin. Her hospitality included a delicious meal on Friday evening that went way beyond my expectations! We did quite a bit of planning Saturday afternoon following the meeting while cooling off in her pool before we headed back to our respective homes. Many thanks, Sharon.

Traveling Again

2008-08-13T11:57:00.004-05:00

TexasWAX/Houston's next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 7th at three o'clock in the afternoon at Julia Koivumaa's house/studio.

I hope to have more information to share regarding up-coming fall workshop/retreats and exhibitions.

On August 22nd, Deanna Wood and I are heading over to Austin for an overnight visit with Sharon Kyle Kuhn for a planning session regarding these topics, so we should have more definitive information by our September meeting.

Besides that, Deanna and I have the pleasure to be in Austin when their group meets that Saturday so we are looking forward to meeting with the Austin people and finding out all the interesting things they are doing there.

TexasWAX/Houston July Meeting

2008-07-30T10:46:00.024-05:00

Our July meeting was at Suzanne's new studio this past Sunday. Sadly, one of our members and founder of the Encaustic Workshop at Lonestar College/Cy-Fair, Robert McGehee couldn't be there because he is back in hospital. He is having serious problems related to the surgery he had last summer. We all miss him, wish him well and look forward to his return soon. Besides myself, Suzanne Shield-Polk, Cynthia Robertson, Julia Koivumaa, and Alonso Lopez were in attendance. Suzanne was very generous with tasty refreshments....lunch really! Thanks, Suzanne.
We decided to skip the August meeting and get back on our "first Sunday" schedule set for the 7th of September to be held at Julia's house.

Cynthia Robertson and Julia Koivumaa

Suzanne Shield-Polk and Alonso Lopez

Suzanne spoke about the workshop she attended in California. Etsy, she said, was mentioned as a good source for selling small handmade items.
We talked about the June conference and I shared some of the things I learned at the sessions I attended.

Linda Womack's books Embracing Encaustic were hot items. Everyone was eager to get theirs. I have more.
I only have one copy of the catalog for the Diptych Exhibition and everyone wants one of those too. You can see in the picture of Cynthia and Julia looking through my copy. Julia was a participant in that exhibition.

We welcomed a new member, Alonso Lopez to our group. We spent some time browsing his web site oooing and ahhhing his work. Like Suzanne, he does 3/D as well and has a background in ceramics as well as painting. We are anxious to see his work in person and hear more about the techniques he uses. Check out his web site.

We also discussed working out something with Jerry's Artarama in the way of working meetings or workshops there. I have spoken with the manager there and he is very receptive to that idea.
***********************************************************
We discussed the collage technique that I saw Nathan Margalit demonstrate at the conference.
I did a very mini demo. More of a description really and Suzanne played around with it some. I did these two in my studio soon after I returned from the conference. One is 12 inches square and the bottom one is 8 inches square.

Here is a description of his method.

Nathan works on a wooden panel substrate onto which he glues canvas.
He primes the canvas with beeswax and medium fusing between layers before he begins to build his collage. I glued heavy paper down to my wood substrate rather than canvas in my collages.

Nathan has an abundant supply of thrown away books at his disposal in the town where he lives. Students at near-by colleges throw away these things at end of semester providing him a great renewable source of collage material. Besides book pages, he uses any papers he finds, scrap, his own drawings, etc., and feels free to alter any of these with paint or markers of any kind that are compatible with wax. (Gouache is his paint of choice.)

No photo copies please! He uses pages directly out of the books as well as his own or others' drawings, also not photo copied.

His collage material is his palette. He prefers to have a stash of materials at hand before he begins to work. As he chooses a fragment of paper he gives both sides a coat of medium before he attaches it to the substrate with the tacking iron. As he tacks, he rubs off excess wax with a silk cloth...an old silk shirt. (That is what he had in the demo at the conference!)

I used some fabric (used oil paint rag) as well as pages from an old book and hand made paper for material in my collage. I also added some oil bar on top of the surface afterwards.
I don't have an old silk shirt...had to make do with something else.

He is able to work flat or at the easel and can work large formats more easily that one can in straight encaustic painting. (My opinion here regarding working large.)

His is a very intuitive way of working. That speaks to me.

Below is a detail of one of the paintings Nathan had on display at his conference session.

This is part of the "On the Edge" exhibition at 301 Gallery in Beverly, MA taken in June at the conference. Click the images to enlarge.
Artists from left to right: Gregory Wright; Deborah Kruger; Howard Hersch; Nathan Margalit.

Nathan Margalit's painting in "On the Edge." Click to enlarge and see the details better.

Encaustic Conference Report

2008-07-28T23:52:00.087-05:00

This is the follow-up report on the 2nd Encaustic Conference that I promised to make, belated though it is. First off, the conference was well worth all the effort it took to plan and attend. Planners should be congratulated on such a successful event. From my standpoint, everything ran like clockwork. The only complaint from most attendees was about the hot temperatures that came upon us half way through the weekend. The planners had no control over that. People who stayed in the dorms suffered most because there is no air conditioning provided in those spaces. We all suffered through however, and managed to have a great time anyway!

The conference itself ran from Friday through Sunday with "early bird sessions" offered Friday for those attendees who came in early. Below are images from the two early sessions I attended.
Above: One of the "early bird" sessions, a demo by artist Julie Shaw Lutts on her take on encaustic collage. I found most interesting her process of using collage and assemblage with materials like metals and wood combined with paper and wax.
Below: Charyl Weissbach on "The Luminous Landscape" described the process by which these artists put together this exhibition.

Sessions during the conference can be characterized in three ways; demos of particular techniques, presentations with slides or videos regarding various related subjects, and professional developmental type presentations. Sessions are not long enough to include hands-on activity by participants.

I attend three conference sessions that included demonstrations; Nathan Margalit's demo (pictured below) on collage, Russel Thurston on large format painting and Sandi Miot on textures.
Nathan Margalit

Below: Russel Thurston at work during his session.
Above: Sandi Miot. Below: Some of Sandi's samples of textures and Below that: Her palette.

This is Sandi's palette. I was told these nice lidded paint pots come from the children's department at IKEA. I was planning to run over there first thing when I got home from the conference to get myself some but haven't done it yet!

Above: This is part of Sara Mast's presentation about working large. I found her work quite wonderful and her presentation very interesting and informative.
Below: Daniella Wolfe's presentation was equally intriguing. She presented work by artists who combine encaustics and textiles. You can find these artists on her blog---Encausticoplis.

Additional hands-on workshops were offered on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after the conference and these ran the full day. The fee for each workshop after the conference was extra.

In-between all these activities were four exhibitions up for viewing. Three were located in the conference building (the school) and one at 301 Gallery down the street. Therefore & Because: Decoding Norman Labiberte, Hue Again, works by Joanne Mattera and The Diptych Show, collaborative works by artists from IEA and NEW were the three in the main building.
Receptions were held at special times for each of these exhibitions.

These two photo's below are of some of the diptych's from that collaborative exhibition.
All images below are from "On the Edge" exhibition at 301 Gallery. I am missing attribution information for several of these images so many apologies to those artists. I did want to bring attention to these anyway.

Above: Artist Lorraine Glessner
Rodney Thompson
Karen Freedman

Cari Hernandez

Shelley Gilchrist; Cherry Creek

Paula Roland
Kim Bernard: Tranquil Swarm
Russel Thurston: Bang (on left) & Spline on right

Below: Opposite What? by Lynda Litchfield

Above:Christy Diniz Liffman
Landmarks : Watermarks

Member News and Next Meeting

2008-07-22T09:19:00.010-05:00

Both Julia Koivumaa and I have work in this exhibition which is up from July 26 through August 30. If you get to Dallas during that time, stop in and see the exhibition. Janet Wayte
another Houston artist I know, also has work in this exhibition.

This means that Julia and I, if we attend the reception in Dallas, will have a very quick trip there and back so we can attend Sunday's two o'clock meeting at Suzanne's.
Bring some work to share and remember that I will have Linda Womack's Embracing Encaustics books there for sale to those who want them. Robert and I will also report on the conference we attended in June. Other topics of discussion will be demo and workshop possibilities at Jerry's Artarama, other possible locations for our meetings, and possible exhibition opportunities for our group/groups. See you Sunday.
********************************************************************************
Other news from sister organization texasWAX/Dallas...Some Like it Hot is the title of their up-coming exhibition at Bath House Cultural Center in August.

TexasWAX/Houston July Meeting

2008-06-03T08:49:00.009-05:00

Our July meeting is scheduled for Sunday, July 27th at Suzanne's house and new studio.
It will be a sharing session about the conference that Robert and I are attending this weekend.
Suzanne is attending a workshop in July with Kristen Kieffer in San Antonio and will be reporting on her experiences as well. I am hoping we will be able to do more than talk but will report more about that later in the month.
Check back for more information.

Artist's Residencies - "Creative Journey"

2008-05-24T12:19:00.015-05:00

The latest post on Artist Emerging blog gives some great information regarding artist's residencies. Along with other good information you will find links to several different types of
residencies like The Vermont Studio Center, The Edward F. Albee Foundation, and The Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Scroll down the page to the previous post and you will find a picture of the Ora Lerman Charitable Trust Artist's Residency at Soaring Gardens, the Residency that Deanna Wood is attending this summer.

What is interesting and rather exciting besides the fact that she is getting away this summer to spend concentrated time on her art, is the opportunity Deanna offers to you and I.

Here is how she puts it:"The residency includes room and board, but I'm expected to pay for travel expenses, which can get expensive. So I'm asking for your help. If you'd like to help out, click here for an invitation to be a partner on my creative journey".

For a small investment you will get regular updates during the residency, receive a handmade artist's book created in response to her experience at the residency, plus you will be invited to a special preview of works she made that are directly related to the residency.

I am excited to say that I am one of her investors and am really looking forward to owning one of Deanna's books. I have seen some of her handmade books on her blog and website and can't wait to see what new ideas she will have for this series.

Take a look. You may want to invest in her creativity too.

Deanna mentions that this idea came from one of the chapter's of Alyson Standfield's I'd Rather Be In the Studio.

Meetings and Greetings

2008-05-08T22:49:00.006-05:00

TexasWAX/Houston meeting was Sunday at Gwen's house. Three new artists attended the meeting. Looks like we are growing. Julia Koivumaa, one of our new members, had just come back from the IEA retreat in Carmel with lots of stuff to share with us.
*********************************
Tuesday, Deanna Wood from the Dallas group drove over from Denton for a visit. Deanna and I met up with Sharon Kyle Kuhn who had driven over from Austin. That evening we got together at Cynthia Robertson's house with some of the Houston members for a delicious meal that Cynthia cooked.
*********************************
The 2nd Annual Encaustic Conference is coming up the first weekend of June. Robert McGehee and I from the Houston group are attending this year. Deanna will be there from the Dallas group. Due to the conference, our next TWH meeting will be in July on the 13th.

New Address

2008-04-24T00:52:00.015-05:00

Please note that this blogspot has changed addresses. The TexasWAX/Houston blog is continuing but with a different address that is more straight forward। Please make the changes in your files.

*******************************************

Note that our (TexasWAX/Houston) next meeting is scheduled for May 4 at 2:00.
Artists working in wax and want to participate in this group, contact Gwen at gplunkett@rocketspeed.net.

********************************************

FYI Houston artists interested in wax supplies, Art Supply (2711 Main St. at Dennis ..near McGowan) has a small supply of RF brand Encaustic starter sets and blocks of medium if you don't want to wait for mail order shipments. The owner of the store is very knowledgeable regarding any technical advice you might have regarding mixing media-what is safe and archival to mix together and what is safe to heat.

For more information Encaustic working tools and equipment, setting up your studio to accomodate this medium, safety issues and so forth, the best source I know is Joanne Mattera's book The Art of Encaustic Painting. I have seen it in book stores around town but you can mail order it as well. For those of us who work with wax, this book has become our bible.

Art Supply also carries a good supply of substrates...popular brands plus some of their own making if you are not handy with saws and such. These are the ones I would prefer because you can probably specialize your order regarding image size and depth of cradle. They have nice smooth sides and seams and very neatly joined corners unlike my recent hand made ones.
There are also studios for lease through Art Supply (Artist Studio Complex) at that downtown location but most are already taken. Some are live-in studios. They probably have a waiting list.

Smartist (Susan Myers) Shows Her Stuff

2008-04-14T12:06:00.015-05:00

Artist Susan Myers is a friend of mine. She lives in Pensacola, my home town. That is in Florida for those of you who don't know.
One weekend in the summer of 2006 she and Wendy Cresswell, another artist buddy of mine, drove over to Houston to my house per invitation for a mini two day Encaustic workshop. Susan and Wendy have a long history of work in various and combined media. Susan, for instance, besides painting and drawing and mixed media, works or has worked in metals, ceramics, printmaking and probably other media that I don't even know about. For two very full days, the three of us fused, melted, transferred, etched, scored, collaged to our hearts desire. Evenings, we went out to dinner, visited gallery openings and just had fun.
I should mention that Susan bought and brought with her all her equipment and materials. The instruction was free...just for friends. At the end of the two days, Susan and Wendy packed up and went back to Florida ready to set up in their own studios and get to work. Since then, Susan did just that in her small studio, an area just for Encaustic painting.

A glimpse of Susan in her Pensacola Studio.

Initially, in Houston, she worked on a series with landscape elements and continued those when she was home. You will see these when you check out her web site.

Her experience with other media filters in to her Encaustic works, of course, as it does with all artists. Another thing about Susan-she is a collector of things that often find their way into her art. A few months ago she sent me a message with all the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning. Her excitement was over finding these wonderful little porcelain ceramic doll parts on Ebay and how she had secured the bid. You can see how she put them to good use! Below are just a few of her newest pieces that also reveal her working relationship with the other media mentioned above.

I enjoy these new pieces by Susan and I appreciate the fact that she is working here with wax. What interests me more is what these images reveal.
Susan took charge of the medium and worked it to her advantage, getting it to speak her language, and talk her talk........ "these images are reflections that blend the “real” experience with the memory of that experience." Her own personal experiences feed her content. She speaks of dysfunction and of survival. For her "object is memory." The object, in her hands, becomes a talisman of sorts that transports one to a past moment, another time. One forgets the medium and departs on one's "own personal journey." (Quotations identify remarks made by Susan.)

New Wax Group in Austin

2008-04-11T12:35:00.009-05:00

Congrats are in order to Austin artist Sharon Kyle Kuhn, founder of the newly forming TexasWAX/Austin group. Their first meeting scheduled for May 17th.
Austin artists interested in beeswax as a painting or printing medium, check the blog for schedules.

Sharon's work can be seen an exhibition Saturday, April 19th at Bay6 Gallery and Studios. Her art will be exhibited along with Caroline Wright and Darvin Jones.
Live music by "mediums" will begin at 8:00 p.m. Congratulations to all three artists.
Check out Sharon's web pages too. Good stuff.

TexasWAX/Dallas-Houston Exhibition at CAMP in Dallas

2008-04-05T12:16:00.045-05:00

Here are some images from the TexasWAX/Dallas-Houston exhibition in Dallas at CAMP.

L. Cheryl McClure-Dallas; C. Kate Miller -Key West; R. Carolyn Fox Hearn-Dallas
Artist Diane Dorn-Dallas
Artist Vidya Kagal-Dallas

Whispers by Deanna Wood - Dallas
L. Work by Franziska Bader; R. Untitled by Linda Walker - Houston
Transformation by Suzanne Shield-Polk-Houston

L. Work by Charlotte Corbett -Dallas, R. Untitled by Billie Forney-Houston
Counting Time from Ritual Series by Gwendolyn Plunkett-Houston
Itch by Robin Ann Walker - Dallas
L. Franziska Bader and guest Kathryn Bevier (from Enkaustikos Wax Art Supplies)
Salute to Whistler by Cheryl McClure - Dallas

Spanish Saint by Charlotte Corbett - Dallas
L: Menepause II by Cynthia Robertson - Houston R: Untitled by Robert McGehee - Houston
L. Smash and Demolish by Trayc Claybrook- Dallas; Middle and Right: Works by Cheryl McClure - Dallas

Gallery shot with Kate Miller & Joanne Mattera, among others.
Sylvia Thornton with her work
Zen Garden Series: Franziska Bader
Trayc Claybrook: Smash and Demolish
Janet Reynolds with one of her paintings.
Gwendolyn Plunkett and Deanna Wood

TexasWAX/Houston April Meeting Scheduled

2008-04-02T10:59:00.006-05:00

Gwen Plunkett is hosting this month's TexasWAX/Houston meeting Sunday, April 6 at 2:00. An Encaustic Monotype demo and hands-on mini-workshop is one of the activities on this month's agenda.
If you are interested in becoming a member of this group, contact Gwen at this blogspot.

TexasWAX/Houston TexasWAX/Dallas: Collaborating Artists Media Project, Inc.

2008-02-12T14:04:00.002-06:00

Postcard Design by Deanna Wood
See Deanna Wood's comments at her blogspot regarding the two new groups of artist forming in Texas.
Deanna and I have been communicating for several months now and things are underway and getting exciting with our first collaboration....an exhibition in Dallas that coincides with the
College Art Association Conference being held Feb. 20-24.

I had to miss our February meeting here in Houston because I was in California with my daughter while she had her first child. Baby, Charley Logan, was late as most first babies are so I was delayed in my return back to Houston. Robert McGehee held the February meeting at his house and studio and I was sorry to miss but new babies come first. March meeting will be held at Cynthia Robertson's house. Our agenda at the March meeting includes discussion regarding our next collaborative venture here in Houston.

Hope to see you in Dallas next week.

Encaustic Paintings by Billie Forney

2008-01-13T13:18:00.001-06:00

Right: Encaustic Painting

Artist: Billie ForneyMixed Media Encaustic by Billie Forney

From Ritual Series - Encaustic Mixed Media

2008-01-04T23:27:00.000-06:00

This Encaustic piece is one of an on-going series by Gwendolyn Plunkett

Mixed Media Encaustic by Suzanne Shield-Polk

2008-01-04T17:26:00.000-06:00

Above Demons Were Cast Out of Mary-Cupidity by
Suzanne Shield-Polk

Legacy by Suzanne Shield-Polk

Texas Wax/Houston - Second Meeting - Jan. 6

2008-01-02T09:37:00.001-06:00

First meeting of the new year is scheduled for January 6. Contact Gwen for more information regarding meeting location.
Hope to see you there.

Encaustic Paintings by Linda Walker and Robert McGehee.

2007-12-14T02:03:00.000-06:00

Encaustic paintings above are by Houston artist Robert McGehee.
Encaustic paintings below are by Houston artist Linda Walker.

Mapping Series

2007-12-14T01:53:00.001-06:00

Mapping Series, originally uploaded by gwendolynplunkett.

See images from Mapping Series at this site.

Two Artists Talking: More Thoughts on Joseph Cornell, aka The Universe with 90-degree Angles

2007-12-03T00:09:00.000-06:00

Two Artists Talking: More Thoughts on Joseph Cornell, aka The Universe with 90-degree Angles

Just a note to what is said above. I was fortunate to see the Salem exhibition in June. Always
loved the poetics of his work and felt so fortunate to have his work exhibited while I was staying so conveniently just blocks away. You really put me back into that cool and darkened space of the exhibition. Thanks.

Texas Wax/Houston Inaugural Meeting

2007-12-02T20:59:00.000-06:00

Pictured L to R are Billie Forney, Cynthia Robertson, Robert McGehee, Suzanne Shield-Polk
Texas Wax/Houston is a confirmed fact. First meeting was held yesterday at my house of like minded artists who share interest in beeswax as an medium. We are in fact artists who feel more inclined to identify ourselves as "mixed media" artists rather than "Encaustic artists" but even that may be too specific. However, one of the attributes of the encaustic medium is it's versatility and compatibility with other "stuff". With that in mind, we come together to learn, share, and spread the word.
At this juncture, we have decided to come together as a loosely structured organization,
meeting monthly. Intentions are to share work, ideas, comments, and techniques. We are hoping to plan and offer workshops, retreats, and exhibition opportunities for our members.

Next meeting will be on the January 6, the first Sunday of January.

If you are an artist in the Houston area already working in encaustics and who would like to find out more about this group leave contact information at the comment button. I will get back with you.

Flickr

2007-12-02T17:31:00.001-06:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.