Painting with the ancient, luminous medium of encaustic wax offers unlimited creative possibilities. Encaustic medium is a combination of beeswax and damar resin with pigment added to the medium for color. Encaustic painting is a process of applying the heated wax onto a substrate and fusing layers of wax with a heat gun or torch. Encaustic is a Greek word (enkaustikos) meaning “to heat or burn in.” Perhaps the best known of all encaustic work are the Fayum funeral portraits painted in the 1st through 3rd centuries A.D. by Greek painters in Egypt. 

In this participatory workshop experience you’ll be introduced to the basics of encaustic painting including safety practices when working with hot wax, encaustic tools and materials, and various techniques for achieving lines, texture, layers, collage, and more. Review of the fundamentals and basic skills of encaustic painting will be covered through conversation and demonstrations with hands-on practice. Through the process of intuitive painting you'll create two works of art during the workshop and leave with confidence to continue the exploration of encaustic painting.

$100 ($65 tuition + $35 materials) Open to ages 17 and up. 

Instructor: Kathleen Kvern started painting with serious intention in her mid-forties because it’s never too late to lean into your passion and lean away from fear and self-doubt. She creates layered encaustic, often with mixed media, inspired by the beauty of the natural world, the complexity of her inner world, and the mystery of the spiritual world. She is primarily self-taught but has studied with local encaustic artist Jodi Reeb, national encaustic artists Jeffery Hirst and Lisa Pressman and intuitive painter Flora Bowley among other teachers. She has exhibited her work at local and regional galleries including the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Northern National Art Competition, Nicolet College Art Gallery in Rhinelander, WI and the Red Hot Art Market at CAFAC among others.