Current Exhibit
Blurred Environs II, Encaustic Monotypes, 28 x 24 inches
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Aaarrck! (the raven), Colored Pencil on Monotype, 15 x 13 inches
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Nature Interrupted
Encaustic Monotypes and Mixed Media Drawings by Beth Pedersen
On display January 22 - March 17, 2019
Opening reception: Monday, January 28 from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Encaustic Monotypes and Mixed Media Drawings by Beth Pedersen
On display January 22 - March 17, 2019
Opening reception: Monday, January 28 from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Artist Statement
Encaustic Monotypes
The overall concept of my work is about the environment and more specifically the results of man’s carelessness, with much of it having to do with negative effects on the water, air and earth. I read articles on environmental issues of the day and the concerns discussed become the departure point for my compositions. Through this process I continually examine our earthly relationships with nature.
Once a thought has registered, I attempt to lay out color, make marks, create shapes and lines, and most of all pull from what I call my storage tanks. There is much stored in the form of beliefs, ideas, and knowledge from many decades of making art.
Working with encaustic on paper is quite different than even painting with encaustic on a hard substrate. The paper print is pulled from a hot plate where an image has been created using encaustic pigments. One must control the temperature of the plate, the viscosity of the pigment and the absorption of the paper. The making of an encaustic monotype is somewhat difficult to control and there is a lot left to chance and spontaneity. This of course is the challenge and the excitement for these one of a kind works!
Ravens
As usual, I was working abstractly, but was then interrupted by an interesting phenomenon. The representational bird series developed after observing repeated visits by bands of crows to my own feeders. I had never encountered such insistence by so many for such a long period of time. They cawed and croaked making insistent attempts to communicate; all the while provoking chases with the regulars. They nested in my white pines on two occasions three years apart.
I worked on crow monotypes (not shown here) for a couple of years. And, then became interested in the whole corvid family of birds. After being interrupted by the second visit of crows, I began drawing the bigger and more dramatic looking ravens (shown here).
I have created Giclees of many of the original drawings. A Giclee is used to describe a fine art printing process combining pigment-based inks with high quality archival quality paper to achieve a print of archival quality, light fastness and stability.
Encaustic Monotypes
The overall concept of my work is about the environment and more specifically the results of man’s carelessness, with much of it having to do with negative effects on the water, air and earth. I read articles on environmental issues of the day and the concerns discussed become the departure point for my compositions. Through this process I continually examine our earthly relationships with nature.
Once a thought has registered, I attempt to lay out color, make marks, create shapes and lines, and most of all pull from what I call my storage tanks. There is much stored in the form of beliefs, ideas, and knowledge from many decades of making art.
Working with encaustic on paper is quite different than even painting with encaustic on a hard substrate. The paper print is pulled from a hot plate where an image has been created using encaustic pigments. One must control the temperature of the plate, the viscosity of the pigment and the absorption of the paper. The making of an encaustic monotype is somewhat difficult to control and there is a lot left to chance and spontaneity. This of course is the challenge and the excitement for these one of a kind works!
Ravens
As usual, I was working abstractly, but was then interrupted by an interesting phenomenon. The representational bird series developed after observing repeated visits by bands of crows to my own feeders. I had never encountered such insistence by so many for such a long period of time. They cawed and croaked making insistent attempts to communicate; all the while provoking chases with the regulars. They nested in my white pines on two occasions three years apart.
I worked on crow monotypes (not shown here) for a couple of years. And, then became interested in the whole corvid family of birds. After being interrupted by the second visit of crows, I began drawing the bigger and more dramatic looking ravens (shown here).
I have created Giclees of many of the original drawings. A Giclee is used to describe a fine art printing process combining pigment-based inks with high quality archival quality paper to achieve a print of archival quality, light fastness and stability.
Artist Bio
In her decades-spanning practice, Beth Pedersen has explored nature and environmental issues of the day through many materials and mediums. These themes have been present since the early 1980’s in oil paintings and various print-making processes created both abstractly and representationally.
New York City’s art world and the ripple effect at SUNY New Paltz College had a powerful influence on the once realist painter turned “ab-ex” painter having studied with Ilya Bolotowsky and George Wardlaw.
During the 1970’s watercolor, pastel and pencil drawings were the media of choice while raising a family. Those years were spent examining the present landscape with memories of the Hudson River valley just north of NYC and of the farmlands in central New Jersey. The conflict of those bucolic memories verses the environmental issues we face today gives purpose to this artist.
Life experiences were enhanced during moves from NYC to Oklahoma and upstate New York in the Schenectady/Albany area. A final move to Western N.Y. provided the opportunity to acquire an MFA at the University at Buffalo where abstract prints and paintings examining man’s earthly relationships continued to expand. Beth has exhibited extensively regionally and internationally.
In the 2000’s, Beth continues to flip back and forth between representation and abstraction and is currently printing encaustic monotypes as well as three-dimensional encaustic sculptures on recycled materials in her Clarence studio. She continues to be a community arts advocate working on films preserving the voices of other visual artists and mentoring high school students pursuing the field of visual arts.
In her decades-spanning practice, Beth Pedersen has explored nature and environmental issues of the day through many materials and mediums. These themes have been present since the early 1980’s in oil paintings and various print-making processes created both abstractly and representationally.
New York City’s art world and the ripple effect at SUNY New Paltz College had a powerful influence on the once realist painter turned “ab-ex” painter having studied with Ilya Bolotowsky and George Wardlaw.
During the 1970’s watercolor, pastel and pencil drawings were the media of choice while raising a family. Those years were spent examining the present landscape with memories of the Hudson River valley just north of NYC and of the farmlands in central New Jersey. The conflict of those bucolic memories verses the environmental issues we face today gives purpose to this artist.
Life experiences were enhanced during moves from NYC to Oklahoma and upstate New York in the Schenectady/Albany area. A final move to Western N.Y. provided the opportunity to acquire an MFA at the University at Buffalo where abstract prints and paintings examining man’s earthly relationships continued to expand. Beth has exhibited extensively regionally and internationally.
In the 2000’s, Beth continues to flip back and forth between representation and abstraction and is currently printing encaustic monotypes as well as three-dimensional encaustic sculptures on recycled materials in her Clarence studio. She continues to be a community arts advocate working on films preserving the voices of other visual artists and mentoring high school students pursuing the field of visual arts.