The Diptych Project: Transatlantic Fusion at The International Encaustic Conference
Image credit: Deborah Peeples, Capriccio, encaustic on panel and Joanna Kidney, Jostle, encaustic on panel.
As part of the 15th International Encaustic Conference this year, members from New England Wax (N.E.W.) and European Encaustic Artists (E.E.A.) have put together exhibition titled The Diptych Project: Transatlantic Fusion.
New England Wax is a professional organization that connects artists in New England who work in encaustic, providing opportunities to exhibit, to share technical information and aesthetic ideas, and to build friendships with other artists. European Encaustic Artists is a group designed to raise awareness and share resources about encaustic painting in countries throughout Europe.
The idea for this project grew out of a desire to expand international creative collaboration between artists, due to the social isolation imposed by the pandemic. Building on two previous diptych projects by members of New England Wax, artists from six different countries got together to participate in this project, meeting virtually. Fifty-six artists were randomly paired between the groups.
Anne Curran, We are All in the One Map, rice paper and mixed media collage and encaustic and Charyl Weissbach, Connectedness, encaustic on paper on panel.
Each artist initiated a diptych by painting a panel and then sending a high-resolution image and a statement about that work to their partner. Diptych partners responded by creating a second panel in any manner they chose. Partners agreed between themselves as to edge treatment and orientation of the finished pairs. The resulting works show a wide range of styles, techniques, and cross-cultural interpretations
As Bettina Egli Sennhauser, founder of E.E.A., put it, “I hope that the wide variety of works in our project and exhibition will inspire viewers; help overcome language barriers; encourage the dialog between artists on both continents; and build new, sustainable friendships.”
The exhibition will take place at The Commons in Provincetown, Massachusetts from June 1 -11, 2022 with an opening reception on Friday, June 3 from 5 - 8 pm. A printed catalog will be available and a future exhibition in Basel, Switzerland is planned.
It’s not too late to register for the 15th International Encaustic Conference. The conference takes place June 3 - 5th in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It features a keynote speaker, demos and talks on all sorts of topics related to encaustic, a vendor room, a postcard show, a hotel fair, and more. To sign up, visit castlehill.org.
There is also room in a few pre and post conference workshops, including:
5/31 - 6/2: Adapting Processes: The Fusion of Encaustic & Fabric with Susan Stover
Explore the possibilities of adapting tools and processes to use them in a contemporary way. The workshop will start by making some of our own tools based on traditional ones used in the production of textiles. Participants will use these tools to create lines, shapes, motifs, and repetitive mark-making on silk to produce unique fabrics that will be embedded into encaustic. We will also use these tools directly with the encaustic process. Learn more here.
6/8 - 9: Value Does the Work, Color Has the Party with Kelly Milukas
This color primer workshop is designed to take you from gray scale value mapping to luminous color clarity. Create an abstract composition or distill a scene into large masses, group similar values together for strong designs. See past surface details to a simplified pattern of lights and darks, and value shapes. Working with handmade value scale tools, Kelly will demonstrate the concepts, students will gain a greater under-standing of values translated into colors that can then be applied to any medium. Learn more here.
6/8 - 9: The Light Touch (online) with Joanna Kidney
Would you like to develop a more intuitive, experimental approach with your work? Accessing intuitive modes of working brings about a fine tuning of the visual voice. This workshop will be hands on, using prompts, exercises and practices to nurture experimentation and intuitiveness in the studio. We will draw, paint, write and look at other artists work to support the explored ideas. Learn more here.
6/8 - 9: Material World: Wool & Wax with Susan Lasch Krevitt
Open to all skill levels, this workshop will introduce techniques for creating 2-D and 3-D artwork using wool and encaustic. We will cut, fold, wrinkle, pierce and weave with wool. Both new and repurposed woven, knitted and unspun wool will be available for use. Alternative hanging solutions for sculptural wall hung work will be provided. Learn more here.
6/8 - 9: Where Wax Meets Print with Elise Wagner
Encaustic collagraph printmaking uses wax in place of collage materials on the printing plate. Elise will demonstrate how she marries the tools and techniques of these two age old mediums — encaustic painting and intaglio printmaking, to create prints on paper. These prints are full of depth and achieved by exploiting the embossed, incised and textural marks common to encaustic that we all so adore about the medium. Learn more here.