Encaustic Art in the Twenty-First Century
by Anne Lee and E.Ashley Rooney
From beehive to hotplate to the artist's hand, encaustic has evolved as a versatile medium applied to almost every artistic style. A long- overdue look at a newly popular art form, this book explores 79 North American artists' feelings about their work in encaustic and how they use it to express their inner worlds and the world around them. Eight chapters organize the artists by geographical region and focus on how the heated beeswax and resin material is used to create seductive, skin-like surfaces and rich, layered membranes. More than 2,000 years old, this cross-disciplinary medium ranges from painting to sculpture, assemblage, collage, and printmaking and encourages risk-taking in a way that other materials do not. Its inherent contradictions--it can be hot or cold, malleable or solid, opaque or translucent, layered or thin, permanent or fragile--make it all the more fascinating.
As research director of Vose Galleries, Boston, Anne Lee wrote and designed many exhibition catalogs. E. Ashley Rooney is the author of numerous books on contemporary art.
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About Sharon
Artist’s Statement
Painting for me is a quest for beauty and balance. Drawing inspiration from nature's forms and patterns, the resultant paintings are abstract, vibrant, and often incorporate the circle which shows up everywhere in nature. I enjoy painting with encaustic with its inherent transparency and immediacy. It lends itself to layering and reworking as my process embodies constant transformation. Each new painting feels like a fresh start and I don't know what will happen; the very act of painting itself uncovers unforeseen surprises and outcomes.
Bio
Sharon Ligorner is an abstract artist working in encaustics, oils, and collage. She graduated with a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in 1986, having spent her junior year in Florence, Italy, at Studio Art Centers International. Following graduation, Sharon did a residency at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and then moved to New York City. She now lives in western Mass.
Ligorner's most recent solo exhibit was at Oresman Gallery of Smith College in Northampton, MA. She showed with Nancy Natale in Chasing Geometry at Elusie Gallery in Easthampton MA. Recent group shows include The Power of Black and White, Gallery 37, in Delaware, Encaustic In the 21st Century, Francesca Anderson Gallery in Lexington, MA, Casheesh and Black and Blue plus Orange at Geoffrey Young Gallery in Great Barrington, MA, and Red at the Herter Gallery at U Mass Amherst. She has participated in over 36 group shows across the US and is one of 79 artists featured in the newly published book Encaustics in the 21st Century. Her paintings are included in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Headquarters in NYC, and the Art Gallery at Western New England University.