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