Introduction to Encaustic

Class Description

Saturday May 24th 12:30-5:30 pm In the one day encaustic workshop, the artist, Marcie Wolf-Hubbard will introduce students to the medium of encaustic. Traditional encaustic (pigmented molten wax mixed with damar resin) is an ancient medium which has been used for more than two thousand years. The Greeks used wax to seal (weatherproof)their ships, in addition, added pigments to the wax for decorative use. Fayum funerary portraits in Egypt were painted in encaustic to memorialize their dead. Materials we will use in class include encaustic medium (beeswax and damar resin) along with encaustic paint which is the encaustic medium with pigment added. Ms. Wolf-Hubbard will set up workstations equipped with electric griddles and crock pots to heat the encaustic medium and paint. We will apply the molten wax with a brush (natural bristle) onto a surface. The process includes using a heat tool to initially warm the surface and then fuse to the layers below (fuse between subsequent layers of the encaustic.) The heat tools we will use in class are embossing guns, as they do not draw as much power as a heat gun and are thus safer in the classroom. Ms. Wolf-Hubbard will introduce students to several artist's work in encaustic, including Jasper Johns, who discovered an iron tool to paint in encaustic and worked with the medium in his flag and target paintings beginning in 1945. Artists to share, including artists who utilize encaustic painting in their sculpture practice include Pamela Blum, Susan Lasch Krevitt, and Susan Stover who both utilize cardboard in their encaustic painting and sculpture.