Encaustic Project

Artist's Statement:

Jillian Wight

Medsker

AP Art and Design

26 September 2022

To create this work, I was prompted to use encaustic wax on a small piece of wood board. Encaustic is something I’ve experimented with before but have only used to add small sculptural elements to my 2D works. I was really excited for the opportunity to experiment even more. I decided to depict a natural setting partly because bugs really inspire me and also because the variations in texture, color, and pattern in such scenes are really unique and offered a chance to take the work to a cool level of depth. I’m really happy with the result, though I wish I had allowed myself a little more time for precision, detail, and attention to form.

As mentioned before, encaustic wax was the material I was assigned for this piece. I decided to use sort of exaggerated, almost cartoony colors for this piece to heighten the sense of environment that could be conveyed. I wanted viewers to be reminded of a children's book, or a nostalgic dream. I then decided to use clay tools to etch into the wax I’d built up, making use of large, boring space and adding to the texture already emphasized.

This piece involved a lot of experimentation, since I had limited experience with encaustic wax. It was really difficult to use the entire space I was provided with, and even more difficult to express my personal, detail oriented style, in a material that was fairly hard to control. I did the best I could, and then decided to add engravings to incorporate an element into the piece that felt more like me. I also used clay tools to chip away at layers of wax I’d added to add form and dimension. I’m happy with this work, but I don’t think encaustic is a material that I will use in totality for future works!

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