Current Exhibit
Paintings: Encaustic Paintings by Bonnie Ulrich
November 22, 2022 - January 22, 2023
November 22, 2022 - January 22, 2023
Little pond, 2021 encaustic on panel, 4"x4"
Artist’s Statement
Thinking my way through these paintings, I was constantly aware of the limits of a simple noun to proclaim the wonder and riches of nature. More process than product, both concrete and metaphorical, this living, physical presence holds history, memory and myth and is perhaps most perfectly described by Annie Dillard as “grace tangled in a rapture with violence.”
Bio
Bonnie Ulrich was born and went to school in Buffalo. She was educated in the natural world during years spent in Alaska and the American Southwest. She has worked as a literacy tutor, a writing teacher, an editor, a buyer for independent bookstores, a designer of museum merchandise, a curator, an exhibit designer, and a buyer and seller of Native Alaskan crafts, all while creating artwork. She taught art and design for many years at NCCC and Buffalo State respectively. Her focus now is on painting and object-making.
On Encaustic
Encaustic paint is a blend of beeswax, damar resin and pigment. Each layer of paint is applied hot, then fused with additional heat using a variety of tools, from torches to 60-watt light bulbs, to the previous layers. It is this fusing, this “burning in” that defines true encaustic. Once cooled and cured, an encaustic painting is hard, stable and durable; some examples date to 50 A.D. Encaustic paintings, like any artwork, should be kept out of direct sunlight and they should not be stored where they might freeze. They should not be hung or stored near a heat source to prevent heat from accumulating and softening the wax. The likelihood of an encaustic painting melting, however, is slim as beeswax melts at around 144 degrees and the added resin raises the melting point to around 170 degrees. Encaustic surfaces are vulnerable to scratching; dust with a soft cloth.
Thinking my way through these paintings, I was constantly aware of the limits of a simple noun to proclaim the wonder and riches of nature. More process than product, both concrete and metaphorical, this living, physical presence holds history, memory and myth and is perhaps most perfectly described by Annie Dillard as “grace tangled in a rapture with violence.”
Bio
Bonnie Ulrich was born and went to school in Buffalo. She was educated in the natural world during years spent in Alaska and the American Southwest. She has worked as a literacy tutor, a writing teacher, an editor, a buyer for independent bookstores, a designer of museum merchandise, a curator, an exhibit designer, and a buyer and seller of Native Alaskan crafts, all while creating artwork. She taught art and design for many years at NCCC and Buffalo State respectively. Her focus now is on painting and object-making.
On Encaustic
Encaustic paint is a blend of beeswax, damar resin and pigment. Each layer of paint is applied hot, then fused with additional heat using a variety of tools, from torches to 60-watt light bulbs, to the previous layers. It is this fusing, this “burning in” that defines true encaustic. Once cooled and cured, an encaustic painting is hard, stable and durable; some examples date to 50 A.D. Encaustic paintings, like any artwork, should be kept out of direct sunlight and they should not be stored where they might freeze. They should not be hung or stored near a heat source to prevent heat from accumulating and softening the wax. The likelihood of an encaustic painting melting, however, is slim as beeswax melts at around 144 degrees and the added resin raises the melting point to around 170 degrees. Encaustic surfaces are vulnerable to scratching; dust with a soft cloth.