Encaustic Arts Magazine Spring 2012 | Page 9

workshops progressed, they began to attract oil, acrylic, and water color painters, printmakers, papermakers, book artists, photographers, ceramicists, sculptors, metal workers, and jewelers, all of whom confirmed the fact that encaustic is the ultimate mixed media medium. These people brought with them a tremendous variety of techniques, which were absorbed into our teaching repertoire. The R&F workshops, along with our online forum, became a clearinghouse for a large body of technical and material information. This accumulated knowledge was augmented by the collaborative printmaking, papermaking and photography workshops that we set up with Women’s Studio Workshop and the Center for Photography at Woodstock. We also brought in guest artists to teach specialized techniques – Paula Roland and David Clark on monotype and printmaking, Lisa Pressman and Lorraine Glessner on mixed media, Cat Crotchett on encaustic batik methods, R u s s e l l Thurston on breaking the rules, Cari Hernandez on 3-dimensional technique, Rick Purdy on inlay, etc. The popularity of the workshops s p u r r e d r e q u e s t s for regional w o r k s h o p s , which we set up in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio area, Chicago, Atlanta, and New York City. While we continue to hold our comprehensive workshops, we have also devised specialized workshops focusing on ground-breaking techniques. Artist Working. Workshop. R & F gallery. For additional information please visit: http://www.rfpaints.com www.EAINM.com In the meantime our gallery activities have been providing artists from all over the country and Canada with bi-monthly showcases for their work. [10] In 1997 we held our first biennial international juried encaustic exhibit. The 2011 biennial, juried by Joanne Mattera, is a soon-tobe-published exhibition in print, featuring 50 artists and including full size images, artist portfolios, and essays. New products and partnerships with other companies have expanded the resources that we are able to provide to artists. One of the more exciting ventures came soon after we developed our Encaustic Gesso when we joined forces with Ampersand Art Supply to produce EncausticbordTM – our Encaustic Gesso on their panel. New products, more colors, and additional services are the goal we have set for ourselves. Where once we were a one person endeavor in a basement in Brooklyn, we are now an organization of highly skilled paintmakers, teachers, curators, technical researchers, and artists. Our growth has included expansion into stores and catalogues throughout the US, Canada, and Australia and, very soon, Europe and Asia, making R&F paints available to artists around the world. R&F Paints Portfolio 9 Summer