If you think this is interesting, please check out the site for 3 Blondes & a Bald Guy for sneak peaks and more information about how I’ll be using these prints in our installation.

I have work in an upcoming show and publication, New American Landscape, which is a collection of contemporary artists whose work redefines the Americas and it’s inhabitants. A catalog of the artwork is scheduled for print by May 2010.

May 7 -31, 2010
Please join me for the book release party and opening night: May 7th, 2010.

Las Manos Gallery
5220 N. Clark Ave,
Chicago, IL 60640

A Book with No Words. Altered book with encaustic & mixed media. © 2010 Haley Nagy.

A Book with No Words is an experiment into what happens to a narrative when the text is removed. Specifically, I covered the words from this book in multiple layers of white encaustic gesso and paint – much like one would try to paint paint over graffiti. The pages were then sealed by coating them in encaustic medium.

However, by carefully shining light through the pages some of the obscured text can be revealed – allowing parts of the story to be rediscovered.

A Book with No Words. Altered book with encaustic & mixed media. © 2010 Haley Nagy.

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Illuminations. Flag book with encaustic & handmade cotton paper laminates. © Haley Nagy.

As an artist, I am very interested in the concealed and disguised elements of our culture. These are the things that are “seen but not heard” or that “go on behind closed doors”. This fascination with the “hidden” has manifested itself in a variety of ways within my work. As a natural progression from these broader concepts, my art often delves into issues of censorship and secrets and conversely – the process of discovery.

In my recent body of work I am exploring the concept of the hidden in an abstract manner by embedding encaustic (wax) paint shavings inside layers of paper called laminations. A lamination refers to the process of sandwiching materials in between two freshly pulled sheets of handmade paper. Once the paper drying process is complete, these two sheets then fuse into one cohesive piece of paper with the materials trapped inside. The ability to both absorb and reflect light makes encaustic paint an ideal medium to be used in tandem with handmade paper and artists books, particularly because of the way that handmade paper absorbs the wax. These inherent properties of the medium (the way it reflects and absorbs light) physically mimic the many concepts I explore through my work.

The concealed elements in my encaustic-handmade paper laminations are revealed to the viewer in varying degrees. In some cases, such as the white cotton lamination titled Conceal, the paint hidden within is decipherable only by the evidence of its bumpy texture under the surface of the sheet. In the lamination titled Reveal I heated the paper until the wax-based paint inside melted, partially absorbed through the paper and literally blossomed forth from within. Laminations that have been fused in this manner can be held to the light in order to reveal an even more interesting image – the paper transforms itself into a glowing stained glass picture. This visual effect is due to the unique relationship between the paper and the wax, which is activated by light.

By holding the laminations to a light source, the viewer uncovers what was hidden while participating in the process of discovery. Other pieces in this body of work explore the many ways and subtle differences with which light can be used to reveal the “hidden” via the encaustic handmade paper lamination process. Using what I learned from the laminations in my Concealment Series I created Illuminations, a flag book comprised of densely fused, encaustic-handmade paper laminations. The process of reading this highly sculptural book form transforms the work into an exploration of both reader-book interaction and the many ways to conceal and reveal light within an artist book.

These are just some examples of the many ways in which I utilize the paper arts and encaustic to investigate concealment while allowing my viewers to participate in the act of discovery.

Photos by Stephen DeSantis.

Opening tonight in New York, Waxed in Time: Four Takes on Encaustics, showcases the work of artists Nancy Azara, Joan Giordano, Renee Magnanti and Kathy Stark. It runs at the Tenri Cultural Institute of New York until February 27th.

All four of these artists use encaustic in tandem with other media to stunning effect. None of their work is about the wax itself, which is a breath of fresh air in a “wax obsessed world”. To quote the show’s curator, Thalia Vrachopoulos,“These four masters express their concepts in wax creating a dialogue on issues such as communication, trans-culturalism and trans-spirituality”. This promises to be a smart juxtaposition of their work – I only with I could be there to see it.

P.S. If I had any complaint about this show, it would be about the rest of it’s brochure, in which Dr. Vrachopoulos goes on to preemptively defend these four female artist’s work against being “perceived as a woman’s touch, miniaturish, delicate or somehow detail driven”. She also manages to call their work “sensative” twice. Ouch. Need I say more?

Pulp painting is one of the many paper based process I’m studying in the graduate book and paper program at Columbia College right now. I’m specifically interested in exploring how pulp painted sheets integrate with encaustic (versus a standard painted paper). I also think there’s a lot of potential for using pulp painted sheets to create depth with encaustic monoprinting. I have some experiments planned for this semester – I’ll be sure to share the results with you.

In the meantime, here’s an interesting stop motion video showing the pulp painting process from start to finish. You may recognize the imagery – this is some of Chuck Close’s work as it is being produced in the studio. As you can see – it takes a team of workers over 6 hours to complete one pulp painting. Between the time, manpower and effort involved, not to mention the use of very expensive and specialized paper making equipment, this kind of work should be worth a lot more than it sells for. In general, the marketplace for handmade paper artwork is undervalued and under-appreciated… but hopefully not for long. (At least, not if I have anything to do with it).

P.S. Chicagoans, don’t forget to buy your tickets to see Chuck in person for “Chuck Close: A Conversation” on May 6 at the Art Institute of Chicago. I’ll see you there.

Now that the holiday season is over, I can finally share with you a special journal commissioned as a surprise Christmas gift for a very talented jewelry-maker, writer and all around crafty lady… who also happens to be one of my collectors. I decided to create a horizontal format journal because all the experts say this helps free up your writing. (Plus, as the maker of handmade journals, I wanted to create something that couldn’t be bought in a store. Commercially made or mass-produced horizontal journals are rare). I used acid free drawing paper made from 100% windpower, 30% post-consumer fiber and colored drawing pages from Canson acid free Mi Tientes paper so that the recipient could both draw and write with no fear of ink bleeding.

In fact, I threw in a couple of colored pages here and there just in case she’s a fan of the sparkly gel or paint pens. I bound the journal using a gorgeous teal colored, waxed linen thread and simple Coptic stitch, which allows the journal to lie completely flat – perfect for the serious journaler and versatile enough for both drawing and writing. (Not to mention, to the untrained eye, Coptic binding looks like knitted stitch. It’s a creative journal dream come true!)

Fabric Island. Encaustic & mixed media on paper. 4 x 6. © 2009 Haley Nagy.

Finally, I inlayed a small encaustic painting into the cover in the hopes that it would inspire the journal owner’s creative juices. This mixed media work was distressed to look like an old photograph or screen print. It includes imagery from my photographs of the Textile Discount Outlet in Chicago: This crafter’s Mecca is a 3 story warehouse filled with hundreds of bolts of fabric, spanglies, tassles and fun little thinga-ma-jigs. The perfect mental destination for a creative journaler.

Send me a message to find out how you can commission a journal just like this for a special person in your life (or for yourself – I won’t tell). Don’t forget to check my Etsy site too – I’ll be adding more of these pre-made journals in the very near future.