“Perilous Connections, or Don’t Call Me, I’ll Call You” is what I like to call Sculptural Encaustic.
This piece received an Honorable Mention by juror Michelle Smythe at The Big Wave, annual members exhibition at Rockport Art Center.
Fish Academy received second place in the 57th Tri-Group Show this year. Many thanks to juror, Dr. Benjamin Ogrodnik, Assistant Professor of Art at Del Mar Collage.
Dr. Ogrodnik really took a great deal of care in jurying this exhibit. His Juror’s Statement spans two pages of the program and goes into so much more detail than the usual “such a great wealth of art and artists in our community, so difficult to pick, etc. etc.”
I was awestruck by his description of my piece and wanted to share his words with you:
“The second-place piece, Fish Academy, contrasts sharply with the contemplative mood of Midnight Sonata. The small-sized encaustic painting appears as a translucent surface composed of cloudy, discolored forms. But, once examined up close, bits of text, numbers, and schools of fish become visible through the soupy opacity of the picture. Unlike the peaceful, almost static seascapes one often finds in South Texas art galleries, Fish Academy explodes with the fury of a typhoon. The flat text combines with the physical materials in this chaotic abstraction, inviting us to linger over the texture and depths of its drippy surfaces. What it shares with Midnight Sonata is a sense of time and duration, albeit on the level of materiality.”
Note: the first-place piece, Midnight Sonata, that he refers to is a beautifully crafted, and realistic, oil painting of a woman sitting on the edge of a luxurious sofa.
I am particularly struck by this sentence: “Unlike the peaceful, almost static seascapes one often finds in South Texas art galleries, Fish Academy explodes with the fury of a typhoon.”
My artwork, especially the abstracts, really is at odds with most of the birds, fishes, and watercolor paintings of the harbors and sunsets that populate most of the galleries in this area.
Encaustic collage on wood panel
16”H x 12”W
Currently available at Moon Over Water Gallery.
Say it’s only a paper moon…
Or in this case, corrugated cardboard moon.
My latest encaustic collage has me humming along to these wonderful lyrics:
Say it’s only a paper moon,
Sailing over a cardboard sea,
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believed in me.
Encaustic collage on wood panel
16”H x 12”W x 1.5″D
If you’re a local, you’ll be able to see this beauty up close and personal at my solo exhibit in the Kucera Gallery at the Art Center of Corpus Christi through February 25, 2023.
Ogden Nash said it best: “A wonderful bird is the pelican. His bill can hold more than his belican.” As I wax poetic and observe the birds in the Coastal Bend, the humor of this limerick made me pair old hotel menus with the vintage bird drawings, as if the purpose of the pelican is to really get his money’s worth at the all-you-can-eat buffet.
Encaustic collage on wood panel
16”H x 12”W
Go “behind the scenes” and see me create the pelican!
Currently available at the Port Aransas Art Center.
“A Writ of Habeas Corvus” is an encaustic collage on wood panel (16″H x 12″W x 1.5″D).
Featuring a crow, a birdcage, and some actual turn-of-the-century legal documents from my vintage source materials, encaustic wax, graphite, and tar, this playful, textural piece is like an archeological dig.
This piece was juried into the 8th Annual Crow Show at The Studio Door in San Diego, California.
Subsequently, the crow received 1st Place in Mixed Media in the 54th Annual Silver Cup Show for the Art Association of Corpus Christi.
🔴 SOLD!
“How to Make a Flying Fish” is an encaustic collage on wood panel (16″H x 12″W x 1.5″D).
Featuring fish and bird parts from 1890s source materials, dress pattern tissue, encaustic wax, graphite, and tar, this playful, textural piece is like an archeological dig.
This piece was juried into the All Membership Show at the Art Center of Corpus Christi, and will be on display through February 19, 2022 (and available for purchase!)
Opening Reception, Friday, January 7th. See you there!
🔴 SOLD!
“Building Blocks” is a series of 30 small encaustic mixed media pieces – created like an old-fashioned sampler. I love the properties that the hot wax adds to my paper collage work. I love the ability to add more layers and more texture. Creating this alphabet sampler was a great way to experiment and practice new ways of working with wax, paper, and other media. We build compositions by taking the elements of design and putting them together – the building blocks here are the alphabet, which leads to words, sentences, and paragraphs. As I built the layers of these small blocks, I built something that would also work together to be greater and different than the sum of these small pieces. It’s a story; it’s a journey; it’s a “new normal.”
In 2020, 41 Rockport Artists created art responding to our changing times. Selected by a jury panel, these artists received grants totaling $150,000 that culminated in this exhibition. Thank you to Fine Line Group, Alice Walton Foundation, Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation for providing these seminal grants.
This piece will be displayed (and available for purchase!) at the New Normal Second Act exhibit at the Gallery at Anita Diebel Studio, 111 North Austin Street, Rockport, TX.
Art Loop Reception, Saturday, August 7th and Closing Reception, Saturday, August 28. See you there!
🔴 SOLD
“Once Upon a Time” is a series of 24 small collages, assembled as a concertina or accordion book. The words come from familiar nursery rhymes – one line is enough to make you recall the entire verse. The women are from 1890’s to 1917 magazine pages – a true step back in time – before the pandemic of 1918-1920. The backgrounds are from an old book of Texas Legal Forms – although mostly layered over, each background was chosen to work with the particular nursery rhyme. The colorful bits were a mixed media collage that I cut into pieces and the colors in that piece helped me to choose a 1915 personal calendar, with pencil entries for every single day – some as simple as “Went to church” or “Went to school” – a reminder of a simpler time. As I built the layers of these small collages, I built something that would also work together to be greater and different than the sum of these small pieces. It’s a story; it’s a journey; it’s a “new normal.”
In 2020, 42 Rockport Artists created art responding to our changing times. Selected by a jury panel, these artists received grants totaling $150,000 that culminated in this exhibition. Thank you to Fine Line Group, Alice Walton Foundation, Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation for providing these seminal grants. This piece will be displayed (and available for purchase!) at the New Normal exhibit at Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, TX, from August 6, 2021 through September 4, 2021. See you there!
🔴 SOLD!
Postcards from Your Neighbor is a joint exhibition featuring members of K Space Contemporary and Rockport Center for the Arts. As I am a proud member of both of these amazing arts organizations, I get to create 2 postcards.
Greetings from K Space is a mixed media encaustic collage on canvas panel. The main image is a photo of the existing KRESS signage, from when this Corpus Christi building housed the five and dime. Encaustic wax and paint add layers to the old building and mystery to the piece.
This piece will be displayed (and available for purchase!) at the Postcards from Your Neighbor exhibit at Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, TX, from August 6, 2021 through September 4, 2021. See you there!
🔴 SOLD!
Postcards from Your Neighbor is a joint exhibition featuring members of K Space Contemporary and Rockport Center for the Arts. As I am a proud member of both of these amazing arts organizations, I get to create 2 postcards.
Greetings from Rockport is a mixed media encaustic collage on canvas panel. The main image is a photo I took the very first winter I spent in Rockport many years ago. The Cool Coast Camp mural still greets visitors to the Historic District on Austin Street. Layers of wax and encaustic paint enhance the photo, echoing the aging process of the original mural.
This piece will be displayed (and available for purchase!) at the Postcards from Your Neighbor exhibit at K Space Contemporary in Corpus Christi, TX from August 6, 2021 through September 17, 2021. See you there!
