Today we’d like to introduce you to Carol Stanley Aaron.
Carol Stanley, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I had been an acrylic painter and photographer for over ten years, but I readily settled into encaustic painting in 2008 after seeing a demo at a local art store. I fell in love with the possibilities of the medium and immediately and began my online search for knowledge. By the time I moved to Baltimore MD in ‘09 I had tapped the internet fairly well and through books, experimentation and online classes I had enough knowledge to create a body of work and began showing and selling my artwork there. In 2012, I moved to San Mateo CA and began teaching workshops, showing in galleries and selling local stores as well. I moved back to Austin almost two years ago and I have a lovely studio in Hyde Park where I continue my exploration in encaustic art and teach private students as well.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Encaustic art is the process of painting with colored bees wax, the Greek word encostikos literally means “to burn in”. I have adapted this process in order to impact the earth minimally: I paint on cradled birch from a sustainable forest with a combination of filtered beeswax and tree (damar) resin. I add pure pigments to the heated wax, paint and fuse each layer with fire. Once I have created a background I commence scraping, gouging and dripping in elements, hand coloring with oils or I might transfer a photographic image on the surface. At the end the entire process is sealed with a thin coat of protective wax, leaving a lovely archival piece of earth-friendly art that is temperature stable from 25 to 110 degrees.
Texture drives my art. I am looking to refine, enhance or conceptualize the feel of what I see. The fluidity of the encaustic medium offers access to depth, luminescence, and a tactile quality – leaving a painting that can be looked into as well as looked at. I strive for multiple dimensions that pull the viewer closer to the rawness and beauty of earth as I see her. Painting on wood with bees wax and natural pigments, and then fusing with fire makes me feel like I am retelling the story of this world, one creation at a time.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
In my opinion, the role of the artist has been to examine, reflect and reveal and sometimes to provoke–and it always has been. The subject of the art could be global or quietly personal and the artist shows their truth, however, it presents. Local, national and international events compel me to run and bury myself in my studio, but the flow of creating alleviates my discord – even when I don’t want it to. I can smash angst and dismay on to a canvas for maybe twenty minutes, then flow overtakes me and four hours later I find I’ve visually described the feel of a dense forest and my sorrow for the eventual loss of it. I may start with furious emotions but the process transforms into beauty and a sense of peace for both me and the artwork, and I hope to take my viewers through that same transformation.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
People can visit my website at CarolAaronArt.com, they are welcome to contact me and set up a visit my studio or in Austin. I have some work in an upcoming show in Austin at Art For The People Gallery and am currently showing in Limbo Jewelry on South Congress in Austin. I also teach private student and would love some new students!
Contact Info:
- Address: 600 E. 53rd St, Apt 148 Austin TX 78751
- Website: CarolAaronArt.com
- Phone: 512-634-7918
- Email: madley42@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram@carolaaronart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarolAaronArt/
Image Credit:
Michael Aaron
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