An Introduction to Encaustics: Working with Hot Wax (Day 1)
by Artistree Community Arts Center
Adult
Sat, Jul 29, 2023
9:00am - 4:00pm EDT
2095 Pomfret Rd, Pomfret, VT 05067
Mon K.
10 students
Class Experience
Explore the art of hot wax. Receive hands-on introduction to the encaustic process with a focus on safe studio practices. Demonstrations will be provided for basic techniques in painting, collage and relief. We will create surfaces both smooth and textured using a variety of tools. Techniques presented include preparing an encaustic ground, brushing, fusing, layering, inscribing, stenciling, masking, image transfer, and glazing with pigment sticks.
This workshop is created as a 2-Day classroom for learning a variety of techniques. However, if you choose, you may attend just the first day. Please register for each day individually.
Mon Kaczyk's mixed media approach stems from a diverse education, allowing Mon to create in both two- and three-dimension. After receiving a BFA in design and photography from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia and Rome, Mon explored in-depth workshops in encaustics, surface design, and metals. Mon merges studio time with a 40-year career in design, art direction, and teaching. After several years in Boston, Mon chose the Green Mountains as the place to raise a family, start a business and create art. Awarded honors in design and contemporary quilts, today Mon displays artwork in select juried shows and group exhibitions. Learn more at monkaczyk.com.
Class Requirements
- No experience needed.
- Ages 16+
- Participants must feel comfortable working with hot wax, using heat guns and/or butane torches for fusing. (Demos will be given to work comfortably and safely with torches.)
What you'll learn
- Safe practices for working with encaustics
- Encaustic basics: Preparing an encaustic ground, brushing, fusing, and layering; understand the capabilities of hot and cold wax
- Techniques: masking, image transferring, stenciling, inscribing, and scraping; creating smooth and textured surfaces
Sample Class Format
- This workshop is created as a 2-Day classroom for learning a variety of techniques. However, if you choose, you may attend just the first day. Please register for each day individually.
- Day 1, Saturday morning we prepare our encaustic surfaces and learn the basics about the tools and materials. Demos in collage and wax translucency are explored, along with image transfers and stenciling. At lunch we discuss the versatility of the medium. Following the break, we create our own samples of encaustics.
- For those attending Day 2, Sunday begins with demos on paint application both additive and subtractive. At lunch we discuss resources and how to set up encaustics in your own home studio. Following the break, we explore the various ways of building texture and creating impressions directly into the encaustic surface.
Other Things To Know
If a participant wants to cancel their enrollment, we will refund the amount of tuition minus a non-refundable $30 registration fee if request is made no less than 8 business days prior to the start of class. See full policy here.
What To Bring
- What To Bring:
- Ready-to-eat lunch
- Nitrile gloves (not latex). May be purchased at stores like CVS (small & large sizes) or HomeDepot (large sizes).
- Natural bristle brushes 1” and 2” (4 of each size). We’ll use inexpensive hardware store chip brushes. (No synthetic brushes.)
- Wax paper
- What To Wear:
- Wear painting clothes that cover your legs and footwear that cover your feet.
- Smock or apron optional (Artistree has studio aprons for use as well)