Artist Initiative

I spent a large amount of time exploring many new encaustic tools and materials. I also took an advanced encaustic workshop from Jeff Hirst. Jeff has been an encaustic mentor to me since I took my first workshop with him several years ago. One of the requirements of the class was to bring some kind of non-traditional surface to work on. Since I previously have worked in book arts, I brought an old book. In talking with Jeff we both agreed that this is a natural and exciting transition for me since much of my work relies on visual connections. Using my research on the development of winged insects, I began working with the flow between pages and am exploring more narrative possibilities. 2: The show at Flow Art Space has helped introduce more people to encaustic painting and to my work. According to Google Analytics, starting in October (just prior to the opening of the show) the visits to my website increased by 605%. The average visit duration went up 358%, the average page views increased by 74%, and the average of pages per visit increased by 205% when compared to the same time period last year. Most people that I spoke with at the show and in conversation about what I was doing with the grant money had never come in contact with encaustics before. At the Friends School where I work, I had numerous conversations with both parents (many of whom are artists themselves) and students about how encaustic works. A group of parents has also asked me to do a workshop for them as a fundraiser for the school as a result of the grant activities.