Have I ever invited you in?

Our studio!
Desert Paper, Book and Wax and Studio Renfrow all under one roof!

Rob and I are gearing up for a new season of teaching and he just started his first workshop today. Snuck in the back door and took a shot:
I was asked to take some photos by Lisa Pressman for a talk she is giving in June on artists and their studios. Even though she said not to clean up I couldn't help myself....! I won't give them all away, but since there is also an article I have uploaded to our articles section on my creative process that includes studio views, I thought to put a few of them up now. Musings on Art and Nature is the title. Just go to papermakingresources.com towards the very bottom.
Well come on in!

sculpture in lower left by Kitty Wales

How do others set themselves up? I find that stations work well with kindergarteners...and they work great with me! Where I work at two face to face tables: the one on the left is for thinking, drawing and designing, on the right for assemblage and scraping back waxes. A few things in progress:

why do people love to see these messy tables? :-) although I have to admit...'tis a bit straightened up! My painting station:


and to the right, ventilation out the window,

A papermaker might be able to recognize some things...there is a pot full of just cooked kozo waiting to be rinsed on the floor. A dry box tucked under the counter, a little screw press and an encaustic monoprint box. (The large hydraulic press is out on the back porch.) My studio can instantly convert to papermaking...that door on the far right is to the beater room where I store all my fibers, vats and screens, etc, etc... I usually make paper for specific projects rather than production sheetforming. Love to embed painted on Japanese style sheets in wax!
Looking back out into the teaching area from my section...that is also where lots of paper is made! And where we will completely rearrange for Daniella Woolf's workshop on Friday Feb 19th/Sat Feb 20th. All credit and thanks go to Sherrie Posternak of the Tucson IEA for doing all the organizing work!
Robert's darkroom is around to the left. But I just love that he can also make the entire studio completely light free. Turns into one huge darkroom for making huge cyanotypes.

Robert Renfrow, Caterpillar Infestation Cyanotype and redeveloped cyanotype on fabric. 9ft.h x 8ft.w

This work by Robert is incredible in person...made from a life sized bloomed-out agave along with computer generated negatives. Statement on the blading of the desert, the ousting of native plants and animals for new "development". Note the golf clubs that the work hangs from. And if you look very closely, you can see tiny caterpillar bulldozers climbing the agave stalks!

That's the tour!

some new works...

Secret Sky
encaustic painting in a vintage wooden game board

5.5”h x 9”w x 1.5”d closed
5.5”h x 18”w x .75” open
©C. Nash

I am constantly thinking about things, contemplating how to create around an inspiration....trying to recreate an inner sensation after being in the woods or the desert...passages from certain authors or poets can invoke imagery.



Peephole
encaustic painting in found weathered woodworked cylinder
1.75” h x 3” diam.
©C. Nash

I can plan an entire work in my mind as I am traversing my busy non-studio days. Perhaps it comes from my beginnings as a printmaker, where so much has to be preplanned to create a color litho or a woodcut.

It carries me to the point when I finally do close the studio door and start to work...then I have a beginning point from which to jump. I have learned to let the initial idea get me started and then banter back and forth with the work. It has taken me many years to shed the control issue.

Sky Within (No. 70)
encaustic painting in a vintage mechanics machine parts box
9”h x 6”w x 2”d closed
9”h x 11 1/2”w x 1”d open
©C. Nash

I teach. The whole "happy accident" spiel I spout to students from kids through adults, I am still striving to embody. I can finally flow when the mind quiets, "I" is lost and creative action becomes an intuitive dance.

It's about trusting...

"I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it.

-Barbara Streisand

From the Outside In
encaustic painting in found weathered woodworked board
8.25” x 9”w
©C. Nash

Wax and the Artist Book

Liz Mitchell, Observations (right)
An accordion fold book in a collapsible box. Book is 5” X 4 1/8” X 1/2”. The box is 5 5/8” X 4 1/8” X 5 1/2”. The pieces are made of collaged paper, bees wax, bark and flax.

Raymond Papka, Newton II (above)
10”Hx 7”Wx 2.5”D
Mixed Media Assemblage. An old book, encaustic medium, paper, pigments and found objects. A space has been sculpted in the book for insertion of a wooden ball, representing the globe. Embellished with a brass triangular piece from a old clock, leather “hinges” and copper.


wax and the artist book
I loved presenting about the book artists who incorporate encaustics into their works at the Annual Encaustic Symposium this past June at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA.

Dorothy Simpson Krause, Many Truths (below center)
4.75'' x 10.5'' x 5.25'' Digital print on black paper with encaustic in iron box on wooden stand.
Learned so much. If you haven't discovered it already, I compiled the participating artists in a downloadable e-booklet with all the artists included on the article page.

Laura Wait, Middlegame, 33" x 15", Encaustic and mixed media on paper. Hangs on copper rails. (below)

It inspired me so much seems all I can think about are books of late. Got two in process in the studio right now... Lots in process in fact. A paper sculpture. Several larger encaustic paintings. I do want to officially thank those artists who sent me images for Wax and the Artist Book! It was great fun...

Great thanks to the artists:
Jody Alexander, Santa Cruz, CA
Nancy Azara, New York City, NY
Jeanne Borofsky, Groton, MA
Patricia Gaignant, Westbury, NY
Julie Johnson, Portland OR
Dorothy Simpson Krause, Marshfield Hills, MA
Liz Mitchell, Pittstown, NJ
Ray Papka, Versailles, KY
Marsh Scott, Laguna Beach, CA
Alice Simpson, New York City, NY
Lynn Sures, Silver Spring, MD
Mary L. Taylor, Marshfield Hills, MA
Laura Wait, Steamboat Springs, CO
Beata Wehr, Tucson, AZ
Daniella Woolf, Santa Cruz, CA

Learn about the upcoming Fourth Annual Encaustic Painting Conference at Montserrat College of Art

Wax and the Artist Book

Bookworks by Catherine Nash
left: Dark to Light, 2009

This is a first entry about this subject...I am learning so much about what other artists are doing with combining the media. Did a nation wide call for artists incorporating wax into their bookworks last fall and will lecture about it at the upcoming International Encaustic Symposium at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA in early June. I am honored to be included in a concurrent show curated by Director Joanne Mattera there called Wax Libris...should be great!

right: This Too Shall Pass, 2009

Not that I am an expert...just was completely curious about what was going on "out there". Received a lot of wonderful entries and am currently organizing it into a power point lecture format. Once I get it together, I will blog again with images from some of the included artists.













In the meantime, I have been focusing on my own bookworks, some with the inclusion of wax, some without and thought to post them now. I will be showing in a book exhibition entitled The Book: Wide Open from May 22 - July 3rd at the Business of Art Center in Manitou Springs, CO with some wonderful artists!

below: Within, 2009

About Tucson from Robert and Catherine

March, 2009
Hi everybody,
Hope you are enjoying the coming of Spring...it is certainly here in Tucson!

We just got back from an exciting three weeks in India, left on the 9th of Feb for Dehli and the Punjab and were completely out of reach of internet and email.

Ah, unplugged! India was completely challenging and intriguing in the same moment. We spent three weeks in a meditation center...so much to learn on so many levels. We are grateful to have had the chance to unplug, rest, contemplate and "view" our American life from afar...all the while experiencing such a colorful and complex and ancient culture. Incredible......

We were able to spend some time with Dehli artist Radha Pandey and her family, including the renowned Indian filmmaker Mike Pandey. Radha took Catherine's Japanese papermaking course at Haystack Mountain School of Arts and Crafts in Maine. Please check out Radha's final stop action animation project for her art degree...a lovely film (short but poignant) entitled Roopaantar- Metamorphosis that uses the thin translucent papers like we made together in 2005. ...she is just awesome!!


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About Town
From Robert
At the Center for Creative Photography there is an upcoming show entitled Odyssey: The Photographs of Linda Connor that I think many of you will find very interesting. I know Linda's work and this is a chance for you all to get inspired. It's also a chance to see some non digital printing. As many of you know I do alternative photographic processes myself so if you are curious about this type of image making, this is an opportunity to see some up close.
By the way I am offering an Alternative Photographic Process workshop in my studio April 15th and 16th. Try some of these processes yourself!

There will also be a lecture on Friday March 27th at 6pm by Linda at the CCP. It will be packed so get there well before 6.

March 27 — June 21, 2009

"Connor's photographs reveal the essence of her subjects, yielding a sense of timelessness while visually evoking the intangible. She uses a distinctive technique. A large-format view camera allows her to achieve remarkable clarity and rich detail. Her prints are created by direct contact of the 8x10-inch negative on printing-out paper, exposed and developed using sunlight. Toned and fixed with gold chloride, the prints have a warmth, luminosity, and delicacy seldom found in standard photographic printing."

Also are you interested in seeing original works of art of your choice from the Center for Creative Photography’s photograph collection?
Find out more about reserving a print study session




Up now at the Tucson Museum of Art
and great for those of you who are into nature photography and painting:

Trouble in Paradise: Examining Discord between Nature and Society
February 28 - June 28
Artists are looking at the beauty and the terror in the forces of nature through their honest and emotional portrayals, while sending urgent messages to pay attention to the ravages society inflicts on the land through war and waste. This exhibition will examine a range of art in a variety... read more



You all should look into what is happening at Dinnerware ArtSpace on an ongoing basis- they have started two new art exhibition spaces downtown. They have an ongoing call to artists for a variety of unusual and exciting exhibitions. Your work could be included! Consider joining the Central Arts Collective and show your work in their group shows. Contact David Aguirre for more info (he's nice!):

CHECK OUT DINNERWARE'S NEW FALL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR DINNERWARE ARTSPACE AND ITS AFFILIATED GALLERIES. SUCH ARE: ROCKET GALLERY, ARTS INCUBATOR GALLERY, SHANE HOUSE GALLERY, CENTRAL ARTS GALLERY, TOOLEY'S ON CONGRESS, HOTEL CONGRESS LOBBY & MORE SPACES COMING SOON!

Dinnerware ArtSpace
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 12pm-5pm and by appointment.
264 E. Congress St, Tucson, AZ 85701 | ph. 520.792.4503
dinnerware@dinnerwarearts.com
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OUR ARTWORK

Catherine is honored to be included in the innovative "4th Annual Encaustic Invitational Exhibition"
at the Conrad Wilde Gallery • 210 N. 4th Ave. • Tucson, AZ 85705 • 520-622-8997
Saturday March 7th-28th.
Open Tues - Sat 11-5
more about the 4th Annual Encaustic Invitational artists
To buy a catalogue




At the
Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum Ironwood Gallery, we both have works still up in the faculty show:
Art Institute Instructors Invitational
January 10 - March 29, 2009

About Town
From Catherine
This isn't really in Tucson, but we just changed planes in the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport en route home from India. I always love to meander through the wonderful Phoenix Airport Museum. I was delighted to find "Other Words", an inspiring show that includes both 2 and 3 dimensional works that incorporate letters or text somehow. Tucson artists Chris Rush and Herb Stratford (as well as one of my favorite book artists, Dan Mayer from Tempe,are included in this visually rich exhibition.

Read all about Herb's latest work in Margaret Regan's Tucson Weekly article

If you haven't already, you would be very fortunate to still be able to see Chris Rush's work in a superb show entitled "Translations"
at the Etherton Gallery with work by Bailey Doogen and Alice Leora Briggs. Read Margaret Regan's review



Long time Tucson artist Nancy Tokar Miller is being truly and duly celebrated in a very thorough pair of retrospectives:

At the Temple Gallery:
NANCY TOKAR-MILLER: a life envisioned through April 1st.

at the University of Arizona Museum of Art:
Nancy Tokar Miller ... In Retrospect February 19 - April 5.

"pieces of three":
Midge Angevine, Janice Angevine and Tana Jay von Isser

I have a family of friends, three generations in fact, who are showing together this month at the Artist of the Month Gallery in the Unitarian Universalist Church, at 4831 E. 22nd St. Show hours are from Monday through Friday 9am-3:30pm. Should be great! Can't wait to go...

Desert Paper, Book and Wax
Tour around the Net
Japanese Papermaking:
An Incredible Resource!
Hiromi Paper of Santa Monica, CA, has posted all their newsletters all focused on Japanese papermaking
Read "Papermaking in Echizen" by Sidney Berger
This is a village I visited and studied in during my research trip in 1987...and although that is more than 20 years ago (yikes!), they have consistently been producing handmade sheets there for ~600 years!
Hiromi Paper is my resource for synthetic formation aid, the best I have found! I have visited them numerous times in California, but I am just placing an on-line order with them for kitakata, some wonderful extremely thin papers to use embedded in encaustic wax as they become very translucent!

Artist Books:
Check out this video on book artist Roberta Lavadour from Oregon.
She creates beautiful and unique books, some based on historical bindings.

Wax and Encaustic:
These are just great! Encaustic painting instruction videos recently posted by Kathryn Bevier of Enkaustikos at the Rochester Fine Art Store: View them for free!


Keep making artwork all of you...- we need all the beauty we can get these days! All the Best- Rob Renfrow & Catherine Nash

Encaustic and Handmade Paper

Encaustic and
Handmade Paper


Thought to post some of my latest works. I am loving encasing cast handmade paper in encaustic wax. Some can be left very translucent so as to still see the beautiful fibers, others can become a substrate for a thicker resilient coating that can be worked into.










I also love to layer very thin layers of drawn upon mulberry bark paper counting on the encaustic medium to make the paper translucent and offer a depth to the 2d image...it is wonderful to start bringing my two worlds together!

Encaustic painting...my show at Conrad Wilde Gallery!

New workshops in papermaking, encaustics, photography and Photoshop just uploaded to papermakingresources.com for Jan-May 2009!



Although I just took down the exhibition, I have thought to post some of my encaustic paintings from my November 2008 show at the Conrad Wilde Gallery here in Tucson. Using pigmented molten waxes, encaustic painting has a long history, dating back to the 5th century b.c..

I became enamored with the media by default as I came to it through papermaking. I discovered the wonderful qualities of beeswax in 1994 when I started using wax to heighten the color of my handmade paper pulp paintings. With a colleague from Oslo, I started washing/filtering/grinding my own pigments for use as a colorant in my handmade papers. It was an easy jump to start adding the pigments directly to the wax and start painting...I have been using encaustic ever since!

I often add handmade papers to my paintings, but these from the specific show happen to be pretty straight forward paintings. I have been encasing my cast paper works in wax and lately I am also exploring the use of wax within my artist books as well.

Artist Statement

“I slump down into the thick foliage. ...In the forest, I am my
entire self. Everything is possible in my heart just as it is in the
hiding places in ravines.”
-Rene Menard, Le Livre des Arbres, 1956.

Recently, I have been spending hours watching the evening sky slowly shifting color - dusk into twilight into deep night, letting gradations and atmosphere and air infiltrate my being. Finally, the brush leads me in a kind of poetic, wordless dance through the memory of space. The fleeting early evening hours and the late night rich darks are particularly cryptic, potent and profound. To navigate through them requires an innate sense of direction. Gaston Bachelard writes: “Night isolates us from earth, but it gives us back our dreams of kinship with air.”

I will be teaching encaustic painting and papermaking in my Tucson studio this coming winter spring and our new classes have just been uploaded to our site at papermakingresources.com. I am very excited to be invited to give a lecture, Wax and the Artist Book: A National Survey, at the 3rd Annual Encaustic Symposium at Monteserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA in June of 2009 . I attended last year and it was incredible! I learned so much during the symposium and subsequent three days of workshops. Met some great people too. Can't wait to go back!

In July, I will be teaching at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN...taught there in 2006 and loved it! I am honored to be invited back to teach two classes:
The Paper Artist’s Dream: From High to Low Shrinkage Pulps! from July 12th -18th 2009
& The Hot and the Cool of it: Encaustic Painting and Monotypes from July 19th -24th 2009.

Catherine Nash
New Growth 2008
encaustic painting over cast handmade mulberry bark paper boat and hand formed gampi bark paper leaves. Found tree with root ball, grafting tape, mud from the Rillito River.

September Papermaking Workshop

Hello Everyone!

Well, we are very excited to have held the inaugural workshop in our new studio...Fine Rag and Plant Papermaking with participants from three states! We made Western style papers from cotton rag, black denim, abaca, bird of paradise, curly dock, iris and kapok...with many combinations, multiple dips, and laminations thereafter.

Participants had the opportunity to create for specific projects which included artist books, papers for editioned etchings and scrapbook pages. Fun!

What a wonderful group of participants~ Thanks to all for helping us celebrate our grand opening!

Rob is currently teaching a Photography Portfolio class, just starting up and going great. We are truly looking forward to the rest of our fall offerings. Hope you will j oin us soon~