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Lost Techniques of the Ancients- Encaustic Painting


Lost Techniques of the Ancients- Encaustic Painting

 Over 2000 years ago, encaustic painting was quite pervasive in the ancient world. From what we know, the ancient Greeks first practiced painting with wax and pigments. Most notably, encaustics were used to decorate mummies in ancient Egypt, marble sculptures and tombs, ancestor busts and ships during the Roman Empire.  Artists have dabbled with encaustics through the centuries, most notably the  American painter, Jasper Johns, but it wasn’t until about 25 years ago that there was a resurgence in encaustics. Today, there are numerous contemporary artists working with wax. In this two day workshop you will learn about the history of this technique and get to experiment with different processes to create one or more contemporary pieces. 

 Location: Sonoma Academy Art Room Veranda

Workshop Dates:

Saturday, June 12 / 9:30am - 4:30pm

Sunday, June 13 / 9:30-4:30

$460 (supplies included) To sign up, send an email to Hillary at hillary.younglove@sonomaacademy.org

Skill level: beginning to advanced

Encaustic Workshop Schedule

Day 1

Introductions

Slides of participants work

Discussion of encaustic method and safety measures

Slide Presentation: Historical Uses of Encaustic

Discussion about supports and surfaces and preparing materials

Fusing Demonstration, demonstration of working with charcoal and pastels.

Demo on working with photos and transfers.

Individual Work time

Day 2

Slide presentation of contemporary artists working with encaustic

Demo of line and edge, demo of adhering collage materials with wax.

Demonstration of combining oil paint with encaustic

Demo on building texture

Individual Work time

You will leave the workshop with one or two pieces and knowledge of:

  • The History of Encaustic

  • Safety Precautions

  • Layering

  • Creating texture

  • Fusing

  • Incising

  • Scraping

  • Combining Pigments

  • Collage

  • Working with transfers

Instructor Bio

Since 1996, Hillary Younglove has been working with encaustics in painting and sculpture. In 2010, Hillary received a Fulbright to study the classics at the American Academy in Rome, deepening her knowledge of ancient techniques, which led to the development of the course, “Lost Techniques of the Ancients”. The course that is being offered is an adaptation of the class she teaches at Sonoma Academy where she is head of the arts program. In addition to teaching at Sonoma Academy, Hillary has taught for several years at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara extension classes. Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally. Published work includes: the New York Times, Atlantic Records, Essence Magazine, Corriere della Serra, Random House, Barnes & Noble Publishing, Warner Brothers Records and numerous other publications.

Hillary has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MA from New York University. In addition, she has studied mosaics at the Scuola Arte Mosaico, in Ravenna, Italy.

Lost Techniques of the Ancients/Textbook