Change is coming

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Change is afoot.

Last weekend I did my first ever Beyond the Basics workshop here in Minneapolis. And I have to tell you it was so much fun working with a small group of experienced encaustic artists who were ready to look at their images in a new light.

Not that I don’t love teaching beginners the process. But there are plenty of workshops that teach the basic technical aspects of photo encaustic. This workshop was different. We still spent plenty of time on technical information as we looked at:

• What’s the advantage of printing on tissue paper
• Perspective and vision for creating layers
• Choosing the right image for the process
• Isolating images
• Materials + tools needed for printing on tissue paper
• Various techniques for printing
• Ideas for building backgrounds
• Creating smooth and consistent surfaces for backgrounds
• How to hide the edges of the tissue
• Tiling multiple image together
• Working large with tissue paper

But it’s what happened after the technical information that was magical. I watched as each participant looked through their images and decided what images they could transform into something different.

To my mind, working with tissue paper in my mind is the most transformative when incorporating the images into beeswax. The photograph is only the beginning of the story. The space created around the image isn’t real and not part of the original photograph. For me, isolating the subject and creating a different background allows me to create an image that seems timeless. It allows viewers to see the subject differently and bring their own perspective to the work and allows for different interpretations.

Through the eyes of my students I was able to see the entire process in a new light. The creative energy was flowing in a different way than it does in a beginner’s workshop.

The other thing that was different was I taught this workshop in a collective studio space that I’m a new member of, and it was so heartwarming to teach the process with my work hanging on the walls. You see, most of the in-person workshops I teach I either travel to (so I can’t bring any of large scale paintings) or are at the local fire art center which doesn’t have any gallery space.

Teaching the workshop, sharing information freely, and talking about my work, it became very obvious to me…. change is afoot. There is an impending shift happening within me.

There’s been some uncomfortable soul searching that has been flushing through my veins of late. You’ve heard me here on this blog, talking about finding your voice. It’s a topic has been easy for me to write about as it’s what is bubbling up to the surface for me as of late.

I’m feeling a deeper pull and am embracing the opportunity to spend the next few months diving into my own work and finding my voice.

It’s a tremendous gift for me to teach and I’m filled with gratitude for every workshop. My biggest take-away from this experience is I realized that I want to teach more of these types of workshops. In a Beyond the Basics class, each student brings a unique perspective and varying experience. I find the willingness to learn from each other is powerful.

I teach students the techniques, but we all know that’s not what makes a great piece of art. It’s what we as artists do with the techniques in creating work. THAT’s what it’s all about.

And I have a desire to spend more time connecting with fabulous like-minded artists as we all search for the role of our voices in creating work.

 

 

 

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Would love to hear any comments you may have.

Be well….be creative,