March 30, 2010

On April 24 and 25 I will be presenting a workshop on new encaustic techniques. The workshop will be in Jasper, Alberta at the beautiful Brushfire Gallery.

Last summer I studied Encaustic Painting at Spiro Arts Centre, in Utah, with R&F Paint's amazing Daniella Woolf. I learned a lot of new techniques and Daniella gave me some invaluable advice about focus and really inspired me to continue painting.

This workshop will allow me to pass on some of the things I learned and, I hope, to inspire participants to experiment with this wonderful media. Hope to see you there!!

March 19, 2010

if design govern in a thing so small

If design govern in a thing so small




I am so excited about this show in Jasper....especially since I will be doing an encaustic workshop for JAG later in April (more info to follow). When I started this series I knew I wanted it to be about the inherent beauty of design that exists in nature. The spiral of a shell, the strength and fragility of a bird’s wing, the symmetry of a star fish, even the interesting structures of spore… the wonder of how perfectly designed things are, not just to fit into their ecological niche but how, in evolving into an organism that becomes what it needs to be to survive, beauty has become part of its intrinsic design.

Spiral Meditation - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 16" - $512


I had started the series based on these ideas when I came across Robert Frost’s poem Design. The poem preoccupied me as I worked on my paintings with the question of what role design, or divine intention, plays in the evolution of beauty in nature… is beauty (the white spider, flower and moth coming together in the night) even if cruel, planned and executed by an exterior force (the divine) or is it just incidental? The question I ask myself is the last line of the Frost poem: does design govern in a thing so small?


Thinking About Maple - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 16" - $512


Design
by Robert Frost

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth --
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth --
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.


As an artist, intention or design, is part of the process of creating. These paintings are interactions between the beauty of the image from nature and the created, designed beauty from the hand of the artist.


Significant Discovery (A Long Time Ago) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 20" x 16" - $640


Encaustic is the perfect medium to express this concept. While creating an encaustic painting the artist works not only with a two dimensional surface, composition and colour, but also with heating and cooling; abandoning images deep under layers of wax and laying down new images over them; choosing one image over another because of theme, colour or just intuition. The painting changes over time and sometimes earlier ideas lie buried in the painting’s past. Sometimes a happy accident will create a beautiful mark but just as often a mistake results in having to scrape away or cover up an area. There are always decisions to make about composition, form, colour, contrast and balance.

Beauty is achieved from a series of decisions from the mind and hand of the artist. I think that design does govern even in Frost’s dark drama of the spider, the flower and the moth in the night.

A sample of the works that will be exhibited:

Prediction of Jaunty Gold (Goldfinch) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 20" - $640


Reappearance of Designated Sprightliness (Robin) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage -
16" x 20" - $640


Mellow Reverberation (Echo 2) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 20" - $640


Ethereal Journey Over Rustic lands (Barn Swallow) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage -
16" x 20" - $640


"Buzz" in the Meadow (Meadowlark) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 20" - $640


L'air, son ami - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 16" - $512


Left: Fifi voletant - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128
Right: Raconter les points - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128


Ainsi continuer - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 16" - $512


Left: Sans doute pour me laisser le choix - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128
Right: Gentillesses désagréables - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128


Left: Anatomy of a Polliwog Princess - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128
Right: Mr. Toad Considers His Spine - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128


Evolution of Luminous Energy #1 - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 16" - $512

Evolution of Luminous Energy #2 - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 16" - $512


La Reine des abeilles (I and II) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128 each


Upper left: Coquillage glissant - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128
Upper right: Coquillage cloche - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128
Centre: Existence de luxe - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128


Elegant Revelation - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 16" - $512


Luminous Secret (diagrams a to d) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128 each


Idealized Spore in 4 parts (#1 - #4) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 8" x 8" - $128 each


Transparent Spore (Arcane Knowledge) - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 20" - $640


Spore Diagram with Incidental Joy - Marie Banville - Encaustic Collage - 16" x 16" - $512

Works will be exhibited in Jasper from April 2nd to April 18th. I hope you can be at the opening on April 2nd or catch the show later in the month. If you have any questions please contact me at: mariebanville@hotmail.com or call (403) 872-0701.