Wood & Wax Constructions

Wood & wax constructions became a focus during isolation at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This series represents my response to news events in the world, but especially in Minnesota, where George Floyd was murdered five blocks from my childhood home. The park I played in almost daily, contained one of the nation’s largest, and growing, homeless encampments. My pervasive sense of uncertainty about the future was countered by focusing on the beauty and diversity of grain patterns in scraps of wood, and sprigs of coiled vines found climbing among trees. Establishing relationships became a meditative practice, construction provided creative use of tools. Minimal encaustic application in black, white, and shades of gray completed several works. Others evolved by cutting and rearranging pieces of previously made encaustic paintings to establish altered expression of thought.