Humanistic Geography: A Sense of Place
Eleanor D. Wilson Museum @ Hollins University
Gina Louthian-Stanley
August-December 10, 2023
About encaustic:
I began experimenting with the ancient technique of encaustic painting 16 years ago. Encaustic painting dates to the 5th century B.C. and involves fusing together numerous layers of molten beeswax, tree resin and pigments. Each layer of encaustic medium is applied and then fused to the previous layer using a blowtorch. The surface is then scraped or scratched or rubbed with oil paints to create various effects. Unlike other paint mediums, encaustic has this sculptural, corporeal component to it.
Statement:
Long before I considered myself and artist, I made marks on a surface I could find, used creek-mud to draw lines, textures, patterns and an occasional structure with this abundant ‘medium’.
I collected odd pieces of metal, rocks, insects, and just about anything that was in my environment. The sounds of peepers and the songs of birds captured my attention for hours.
‘A Sense Of Place’, was inspired by my sustained intrigue of this natural world, these images come as often from within informed significantly by an emotional response to a place, a narrative of a place, or a biologic remembrance, etc. I am entranced in moments of elemental experiences that feel significant to remember, like a dream or recollection of place. Sometimes the forces of our world seem to align, and the rising mist of transcendent, the Humanistic Geometry: A Sense of Place, the slow-fading, graded values of the astonishing nocturnal blues lend a feeling of otherworldliness, yet something previously familiar and restful. Moments such as these are often unnoticed magic moving along the surface of an ordinary day. These are the moments constructing my work.
Most of us probably don’t realize just how much a place can influence your sense of who you are, or how essential it is for your inner well-being.
Bio:
