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| In the Deep 24 x 24 encaustic 2012 |
Not exactly. . . I was gone from May 28 through June 6th at the Sixth International Encaustic Conference in Truro and Provincetown, MA. My schedule was full of lectures, demo's, panel discussions, networking, openings and teaching.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent in a Mono-type workshop with artist Paula Roland.
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| Paula with Cherie and Patrick |
It was fun to be a student again and challenging. I was working next to fellow artist and friend, Sara Mast. I did a bunch of prints but it wasn't until we started collaborating on a scroll that I felt things moving.
We worked on two scrolls for most of the workshop and then took them outside. On the wall, wrapped around a fence, around each other, and finally gently tossed out in the grass. We had a great laugh when someone came in and said we better move it because they almost drove over it. Tire marks might had been interesting. We just weren't that concerned with making a "product".
The final day I was looking at my "test strips" that I made of various paints on papers and decided that I liked them best out of the pieces I did. I began to rip up my prints and glue them to small pieces of paper and hand them over to Sara. Another collaboration began and a few hours later ...Voila!!
It was a great experience. We have a workshop called FUSE planned for the end of July in Montana in Sara's studio where we hope to continue the collaboration together with our students.
Thursday night was the opening of Merge: Contemporary Encaustic Print Invitational a show curated by Cherie Mittenthal which included David A Clark, Marybeth Rothman, Paula Roland, Toby Sisson and myself.
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| Marybeth Rothman and her work |
Friday, the
conference began which included demos, talks and panel discussions: i.e.
funding your work, getting a gallery, teaching practices, creativity,
critique, collage and so much more. Friday night was a night of art and
art openings. Saturday afternoon, I presented a talk on 14 artists and their studios and Saturday night was the Keynote speaker, gallerist Ed Winkleman.
Sunday morning was the hotel art fair where I displayed work along side MaryBeth Rothman. I sold a few pieces and then attended the rest of the fair.
Sunday night was the book signing for Encaustic 2012. A portfolio of my work is included in the newly published R&F Handmade Paints inaugural edition of Encaustic Works '12, A Biennial Exhibition in Print. The work was selected and essay written by Joanne Mattera, renowned artist and author of The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax. R&F Handmade Paints has been sponsoring this biennial exhibition series, 'Encaustic Works', since 1997.
It was quite a scene with many of the curated artists there to sign books.
Monday I taught a one day workshop on pigment sticks and encaustic. I had a lovely group of talented and experienced individuals. I decided to get them working very quickly and the day went very quickly. Joanne Mattera was kind enough to attend the beginning of the workshop and she said this;
"I visited Lisa Pressman’s Introduction to Pigment Sticks and Encaustic and was impressed by the ease with which she demonstrated and then introduced a series of one-minute exercises designed to get students actively involved in the possibilities of the medium. There was none of the chitchat that often accompanies workshops; students were fully engrossed. Returning at the end of the day, I was bowled over by what the group had achieved."
You can find some more photos and more of a description here
Somewhere in those few days I was accused of having a party in my room...NO..it really wasn't me. I did have some lobster, laughed, cried and connected with some terrific artists/friends. Hmm. Maybe it was a vacation,
a great working one and one that keeps on giving back.
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| Between the Lines 28 wax and ink on paper 17 x 17 2012 |
PS. The light in Truro
