.: Encaustic collage

Friday, January 8, 2010

Encaustic collage

I am an encaustic artist located in Des Moines, Iowa. The works on this site are created by gluing paper/mixed media onto wood panels. They are then covered with melted wax (encaustic), then fused onto the board with heat. Most of the background collage images are taken from my original photographs. Some of the pieces are narrative, others are created from remembered dreams.

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Artist Statement

I am interested in the written word and how type and graphics play with each other in my artwork. I’m attracted to the unusual and absurd. The shape of letters and words on a page, a road sign or words painted on buildings all attract my attention. I always have a camera at hand while traveling to capture unusual signs or statues. Signs as simple as “Coyote crossing” to a more bizarre interstate highway sign I discovered which pointed to an exit for the “Minnesota Sexual Psychopathic Personality Treatment Center” peak my interest. I am also attracted to larger-than-life statues. What possesses a town to build a giant goose or strawberry to announce the entrance to their community? People have described me as a “robot in alien clothing.” I seem ordinary on the outside but have an unexpected satirical side. I want people to look at my work and be surprised by the words, the graphics, the colors. I want them to laugh and to cry. I want them to wonder – why is that woman in the cornfield or why are those men holding bowling balls while standing in the Badlands? I incorporate vintage items with new. I bring words and photos together with collage. Type, signage, the human form, land and the bizarre make up the landscape of my work. Collage is laborious and thought-provoking. The process itself is what holds the piece together. Elements can’t just be moved with a click of the mouse once they’re glued down. I incorporate original photographs, vintage papers, handwriting, typewriting, paint, pencil and found objects. Encaustic medium ties my art together. The beeswax adds a dream element to my work and seals in the mystique.--Sheri Michaels