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Art with a waggle at Art Gallery of Golden

The Art Gallery of Golden will be showing the encaustic work of artist Erica Konrad between Feb. 22 through March 26.
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The art of Erica Konrad will be on display at the Art Gallery of Golden from Feb. 22 to March 26.

The Art Gallery of Golden will be showing the encaustic work of artist Erica Konrad between Feb. 22 through March 26.

Konrad will be showing pieces in this show which were created using the encaustic process.

On her website Konrad explained the method of this type of artistic work.

“I use encaustic as a medium, with oil stick and oil paint. Layers are built up, fused with heat, exposed and then covered again. I employ mark-making, adding, subtracting, and incising to get to the desired image – the one that is complete, bringing closure to the process. Working quickly with the hot wax requires Zen-like concentration and releases the thinking mind…Encaustic is the medium which consists of molten beeswax, damar resin, and pigments that are fused after application into a continuous layer and fixed to a support with heat. This achieves a lustrous enamel appearance.”

Konrad said the word “encaustic” comes from the Greek “enkausticos” and means to burn in, which refers to the process of fusing the paint. She said that this is a durable medium and an excellent investment. This is due to the fact that beeswax is impervious to moisture. Because of this it will not deteriorate, it will not yellow, and it will not darken.

As an artist Konrad is inspired by what she sees around her.

“I am largely inspired by the natural world, but I am also inspired by abstract impressionism,” she said. “I take a bit from many things to make my works.”

She is also very excited about having a tour through the Kootenay region.

“It is so lovely. This is my first show of the tour. The Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance and Columbia Basin Trust gave me a grant to create these paintings. I am thrilled to be in Golden partially because my parents lived here,” she said.

Konrad added that even though her father enjoys painting in a way very different from her, he is an inspiration for her.

“I am inspired by him and there was always art around our house,” she said. “He doesn’t paint abstract impressionism. It is very different from what I do. I went a different way.”

She also took time to explain what the art on this tour deals with.

 

“There are seven paintings representing the waggle dance of bees. It is the directions and distance to a food source from the hive. The seven paintings represent the fact that it is considered one of the seven wonders of the animal behaviour world. I also have one representing of the hive. It is my way of honouring the bees whose wax I use.”

 

Erica Konrad is an artist living and working in Nelson, British Columbia – a small arts town in the West Kootenay. Her background is a formal University education (BA Honours) in environmental studies, which has laid the foundation for her intense inspiration from the natural world.