Encaustic Workshop, Living with Art

Last Friday Nov. 2nd, I held an encaustic demonstration at Houston Community College Southwest as part of the Living with Art Series Cynthia Millis organized for this year. Artist faculty have been invited to hold talks or workshops sharing information that doesn't get addressed in our classes. I teach studio classes like painting, drawing and design but rarely have the opportunity to share with my students media that I use other than
what they use in class. This was
scheduled as a
drop-in type session and rather informal. I wanted the attendees to participate in some hands-on activity. During the last hour, we all began making memorial tags for those close to us who have passed. It was a fitting activity for November the second. Everyone attached their tags to a piece I have. It is an on-going and collaborative work that will be exhibited next semester with other works that were made during the Living with Art workshops.
For those who don't know, encaustic medium is beeswax, pigment and tree resin. It must be melted to be used as paint.
Pictures from top to bottom and left to right: Gwen working at the heat box used in printmaking; Gwen painting; Display of works by Gwen Plunkett and Linda Walker;
Row 2: Some of the attendees; Cynthia and Gwen attaching tag on memorial piece (titled May's Wall;) an attendee dipping tag in molten wax; Gwen working the wax with hot iron.