Texas Wax / San Antonio

Our Encaustic Work

2009-10-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

July Meeting at The Inn on the Riverwalk

2009-07-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Things are heating up like a summer in South Texas for TexasWax/San Antonio members. We held our July meeting at Inn on the Riverwalk, our lovely retreat in the heart of the city, where we welcomed new members Judith Guerra and Jan Velayas. We decided that we will draw up some goals for the group that will speak to where we would each like to be professionally in one year. We will address those goals in our business meetings, with information on such topics as the packing and shipping of encaustic art, websites, and working with charities. We will try to coordinate our meetings in artists' homes and studios with demos on a certain technique.

Don't forget that jpegs of up to three pieces of work are due Aug. 1 if you want to submit to the Global Swarming show. See TexasWax.com for the Prospectus. We are also encouraged to submit five 10x10x1 1/2 pieces to "Ten," our TexasWax fundraiser in November.

Congratulations to Steve for his great show and selling nine paintings on opening night alone! Congratulations to Hildegard for taking first place in Mixed Media in a Kerr County art show! And best wishes to Michelle on an upcoming show at the Austin airport. Lots of exciting things are happening for our members, and we want you to be part of them. Don't miss out on our next meeting Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 10:30 at the neighboring homes and studios of Debbie Houston and Joyce Howell in Kingsland. Directions will be sent in an e-mail closer to the meeting date.

June Meeting at Michelle Belto's

2009-07-01T07:55:00.001-07:00

Our June meeting was held at the beautiful home of Michelle Belto. This was an opportunity to hear the exciting news about the new nonprofit status of TexasWax and to decide overwhelmingly to join officially as TexasWax/San Antonio. This step will protect us all from liability and will give us access to grants, shows, and publications as well as the TexasWax website and all the expertise, experience, and educational opportunities that a larger organization affords. Each of us needs to join TexasWax by paying the $35 yearly dues. Membership is counted by the date of payment. You can pay online through TexasWax.com starting next week or send your check now, payable to TexasWax, to Bay 6 Gallery and Studios, 5305 Bolm Rd. #6, Austin, TX 78721. Paying soon will help us get to the next step of gaining 501C3 status and will allow you access to the website and member discounts at Jerry's and other art supply stores.

We are encouraged to serve the organization on the Executive Board as a Chair of Communications, Development, Education, or Programming. You can also contribute by working on one of those committees. We hope to have representation of all chapters of TexasWax on the Executive Board and to fill those positions by mid-August. Please let Michelle know if you are interested in either chairing or working on one of those committees, and she will forward that information on.

There are several upcoming opportunities to show art. TexasWax/Dallas is sponsoring the show, "Global Swarming," which will debut at the Texas State Fair in September. The show is open to all TexasWax paid members. Artists may submit up to three entries by JPG files by Aug. 1 to Janet Reynolds@imagine.create.enjoy@gmail.com. Artists will be notified of acceptance by Aug. 15. Minimum size is 10"x10" and maximum is 36"x36". See the TexasWax website for the complete Prospectus.

TexasWax is also holding a fundraiser, "10," beginning Nov. 7 at Bay 6 Gallery and Studios in Austin. All paid TexasWax members are invited and encouraged to submit up to five 10"x10" paintings. The art will be sold by silent auction, with bidding starting at $100 per piece and 20% of the proceeds going to TexasWax. The highest bidder of each piece goes home with the artwork.

Be on the lookout for details on a TexasWax/San Antonio show at 1550 Gallery in Kerrville in February, 2010.

Our Round Robin paintings are up for display at StampAntonio. Stop by to see them and also to check out encaustic supplies for sale. Don't be shy about asking them to stock something you need.

In member news, congratulations to Adrian, Jules, and Beth for selling their paintings at the Degrees show in Houston! Congratulations to Michelle in being one of 24 artists to receive the prestigious Creative Capital Grant! And congratulations and best wishes to Steve on his opening and show, "Dance II," at AnArte Gallery & Studio in San Antonio!

Our next meeting will be Sat. July 18 at Inn on the Riverwalk. If you would like to bring work for the goup to critique before submitting to "Global Swarming," you may do so, and you are always welcome to show new work.

We hope to see you there!

M2 Gallery - Texas Wax Show

2009-05-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Together encaustic artists from Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio each choose a piece of work representing their style exhibited a fantastic show premiering last night at the M2 Gallery, Houston, Texas. Each city group make up the larger texasWAX network and members from one group are encouraged to submit works for or attend functions presented by any other group within the system.
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April Meeting at Adrian Highsmith's

2009-05-04T07:30:00.001-07:00

Our April meeting was held at the gorgeous home of Adrian Highsmith amidst her fascinating collection of African art and artifacts. We came bearing boxes containing our submissions for the Texas Wax member show, Degrees, at M2 Gallery in Houston, opening May 9. A VERY BIG THANKS to Frankeen Price for delivering all the artwork to Houston and to Julie Ogan and Debbie Houston for offering to pick it up at the end of the show. We send our best wishes for a GREAT show with those members attending! The artists' brunch originally planned for Sunday, May 10, has been cancelled due to conflicts with Mother's Day plans. If you haven't already sent Michelle your two checks to cover the cost of cards and the reception, please do so. Send one check made out to Gwen Plunkett for $15 and one to Deanna Woods for $4.50. The book illllustrating the show has been tabled for now, pending a funding base, but graphic designers are being sought among Texas Wax members to coordinate the project.
From the Degrees show, we moved on to showing off our final panels in the Round Robin exchange. What a fun exercise this was as we added our own touches to another's encaustic work. We decided that these small panels would be used as a display for educational purposes. We will put together another traveling display for show and sales on 16"x16" panels that will better represent us as individual artists and encaustic painting in all its beautiful facets.
In new business, Texas Wax/Austin is seeking non-profit status, and the other Texas grops have been invited to join in with them under one Texas Wax umbrella organization. In two years, they hope to host a Texas Wax conference. We voted as a group to send Michelle to meetings to investigate our taking on the non-profit status, as well. Debbie and Joyce also offered to be contacts for these meetings.
Marilyn Fenn from Austin is putting together a Texas Wax website and blog that we can all participate in. She needs your input, so if you would like to participate, please respond to the forwarded e-mail from Michelle from beehive-request.
We were excited to meet and greet Carol from Stamp Antonio Arts to talk about the classes and materials available there. She would like to display encaustic art and has generously offered to stock any encaustic materials and supplies we may need. She will even match any price! Wow! Thank you, Carol! So stop by and visit Stamp Antonio Arts at 2211 NW Military Hwy, San Antonio, 78213, and let Carol know what materials you need. She is also offering encaustic medium at a discount to Texas Wax members.
In member news, best wishes to Steve DaLuz on his upcoming solo show at An Arte Gallery in San Antonio in the month of June!
Last but certainly not least, Julie continues to investigate ways for us to help our benefactors, the honeybees. Check out the site, helpthehoneybees.com for the latest buzz on what Haagen-Dazs ice cream is doing and what you can do to help.
Our next meeting is slated for Saturday, May 16, at the Inn on the Riverwalk at 10:30.

March meeting at The Inn on the Riverwalk

2009-03-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

Texas Wax is gaining momentum like the winds whipping up a spring storm. We all felt the excitement building at our March meeting as we discussed details of the "Degrees" member show to debut May 9 at M2 Gallery in Houston. Catering for the reception that evening will be expertly provided by Inelle's Lemon Cakes. Texas Wax members are all invited to Sunday brunch the next day to continue the celebration! If you plan to attend both events, be sure to make your room reservations soon. Bed and Breakfasts in the area are already booked for that weekend. We placed orders for postcards to send as invitations to the show, which will be up through the end of May before traveling to Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. The postcard will also be digitized for e-mailing. Michelle will let us know the entry fee, which we will bring to the April meeting along with the completed Prospectus and our painiting prepared for hanging, in a box. You may gain a little extra time by meeting up with Frankeen before she delivers the paintings to Houston.
Brochures of Texas Wax are being made up and will be availale at the show. You may bring cards announcing any other show or exhibit as well as any related service, such as medium or panels for sale, and they will also be displayed.
In other business, Michelle related that her encaustic classes at StampAntonio Arts on Military Highway have been a rousing success. She offers two a month, one introductory class and one offering more advanced techniques. Visit her website for details and plan ahead to be sure to reserve a spot!
We are all encouraged to keep investigating venues to exhibit our Texas Wax/San Antonio display of the round robin panels. There was much fun and merriment in the exchange of panels Saturday. We are enjoying the challenge of adding our vision and techniques while preserving others'. The completed paintings with cleaned edges painted black are due in April.
Of course the most inspirational part of the meeting was the work each member brought as we encouraged one another and helped each other select the piece to go in the Degrees show. It is wonderful to see the range and variety in the work displayed and the progression of each member's knowledge and skill. Remember that if you produce something meanwhile that you like better than what the group selected, you are free to submit it.
In the technical corner, New Englad Wax has six hour-long videos that Adrian found very informative. Encaustico also has Youtube videos worth checking out.
It was great to have such a well-attended meeting. Welcome back to those of you we haven't seen in a while! Bee sure to make the next meeting, 10:30 Tuesday, April 21, at the home and studio of Adrian Highsmith. Contact Adrian for directions.

Until then, wax prolific!
Beth

February Meeting 2009 At The Inn on the Riverwalk

2009-02-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

Well, the groundhog may have been scared back into his hole for six more weeks of winter, but those of us who braved the grey skies and slick roads for our February meeting were glad we did. Inspiration radiated from Johanna's newest paintings, and Michelle's enthusiasm for her mixed media and encaustic classes at StampAntonio was contagious. Sign us up!
In old business, we were not accepted as a group to demonstrate encaustics at Luminaria. We will regroup for next year.
Remember to bring your paintings to the March meeting for the touring Texas Wax show, Degrees. You may bring up to three paintings, and the goup will critique them and choose the best selection to represent your work. The minimum size is 10"x10", and the maximum is 48"x48". Paintings must be prepared to hang with wire and must be framed or have a finished edge. The prospectus for the show can be found at degrees_prospectus.doc.
Looking ahead to our future as a group, we decided to focus on growing: in numbers, as individual artists, and in exposure as an encaustic entity with an important contribution to the local art scene. We are therefore each tasked with identifying venues to display a traveling group exhibit that would help us gain recognition. The display may also give us an opportunity to help our busy little bee friends through awareness, education, and support. I sense the beginning of a bee-utiful friendship!
In the helpful hints department, Patricia Seggebruch's book, Encaustic Workshop, received several votes as a good pick. We are also all encouraged to check out the other Texas Wax sites for great links, information, and opportunities.
Our next meeting is from 10:30 to 12:30, Saturday, March 21, at Inn on the Riverwalk. We can't wait to see the newly painted dining room. Remember that this a lovely place to stay if you are visiting San Antonio or a great getaway even if you live here! You don't want to miss out on our group show, so bee sure to bee there!

Until then, wax prolific!
Beth

January meeting at the beautiful hacienda of Julie Ogan

2009-01-27T16:09:00.000-08:00

San Antonio members ushered in a new year of Texas Wax with our January meeting at the beautiful hacienda of Julie Ogan. We all want to come play in her fabulous studio! We shared personal goals for the year in order to be able to encourage each other. Then we dreamed BIG in setting some group goals for the year.
A highlight in 2009 for all of Texas Wax will be the rotating encaustic show, Degrees, which will open May 9, 2009, at M2 Gallery, 325 W. 19th St., Houston, and will continue through May 31 before touring Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, the other three cities in Texas Wax so far. The show is open to all members of Texas Wax. Bring as many pieces as you would like to have considered for the show to our March meeting, and together we will critique them and select each person's best work to display. To view the Prospectus for Degrees, go to degrees_prospectus.doc. Please note that all work must be framed.
Frankeen Price told us about an exciting opportunity to display our work in a large medical space in San Antonio. Stay tuned for further developments!
As a way to advertise our group and showcase our work, we considered blurb books, high-quality self-published books. Debbie Houston will look into our publishing one.
Buzzing right along, we are constantly looking for ways to help and support our little friends, the bees, without whom we would not be able to work! Julie Ogan will serve as our liaison to the bee world.
Michelle Belto gave us our panels for the first phase of our Round Robin paintings. We will each lay a background in encaustic and then pass the panel along. All together, three artists will work on each panel. We will then critique them and decide how to showcase our collective creativity.
February's meeting is slated for Tuesday, Feb. 17 at Inn on the Riverwalk. Johanna, Happy Birthday! We missed you!
San Antonio Wax is the hot new place to be in art, so make a beeline for our next meeting so you won't bee left beehind!

Until then, wax Prolific!
Beth

Meeting at Frankeen Price's Home - Dec, 16th 2008

2008-12-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Oh, the weather outside was frightful, but the fire, the food, and Frankeen Price's fabulous hospitality in her gorgeous home were so delightful that we celebrated the season in style at our December meeting. We all gathered inspiration from each other as we shared triumphs of the past and dreams of the future. Congratulations to Hildegard Slaughter for her show and sales at the Joan Grona gallery and to Johanna Gardner for her interview with Jessica Rector, of the Jessica Rector Online Radio Show. And no one outgrows show and tell when it involves our latest piece de resistance!

Johanna had the terrific idea of a round robin painting. One of us would start a piece and then pass it along for one or two others to add to it. What fun it will be to see how the pieces turn out when several of us have a hand in them! We will receive the substrates at the next meeting.
We also discussed better ways of photographing and posting our work and will be learning more about that in the near future. As always, we discussed our favorite tools and techniques of the trade as well as our ongoing safety concerns.

Our next meeting will be Saturday, January 17 at the home studio of Jules Ogan. Please call her at 830-446-2072 or e-mail jules_art@msn.com for directions. We decided to start all meetings at the uniform time of 10:30 to make it easier on our memories. We hope to see you there!

Until then, holiday blessings to you and yours. Stay safe and warm, and may the fires of encaustic inspiration burn ever brightly.

(written by our fabulous artist and writer, Beth Preston)

Upcoming Meetings....2009

2008-12-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

January 17 10:30-12:30 Home and Studio of Jules Ogan
February 17 10:30-12:30 Inn on the Riverwalk
March 21 10:30-12:30 Inn on the Riverwalk
April 21 10:30-12:30 Home and Studio of Adrian
Highsmith
May 16 10:30-12:30 Inn on the Riverwalk
June 16 10:30-12:30 TBA
July 18 10:30-12:30 Inn on the Riverwalk
August 18 10:30-12:30 Home and Studio of Debbie
Houston and Jayne Howell
September 19 10:30-12:30 Inn on the Riverwalk
October 20 10:30-12:30 TBA
November 21 10:30-12:30 Inn on the Riverwalk
December 15 10:30-12:30 TBA

Meeting at the Inn on the Riverwalk - Nov, 21st 2008

2008-12-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

The cold front may have come in to San Antonio, but we were waxing warm and eloquent discussing fall things bright and beautiful at our November meeting at Inn on the Riverwalk. Welcome to new members Joyce Howell, Deborah Houston, Adrian Highsmith, and Hildegard Slaughter. They were greeted by founding members Michelle Belto, Johanna Gardner, Steven DaLuz, Beth Preston, Frankeen Price, and Jules Ogan. Thanks again to Johanna Gardner for the use of her lovely inn, a perfect getaway spot and site of First Friday art happenings in downtown San Antonio. Encaustic artists may contact Johanna for a First Friday showing.

The room was abuzz as we showed our latest artwork and shared resources and techniques. We all felt the excitement building like layers of wax as we compared notes on the recent joint Texas Wax-Austin/San Antonio encaustic show, "Fused Expressions," at Bay 6 Gallery and Studio in Austin and talked about the upcoming encaustic show, "Degrees," which will open at M2 Gallery in Houston May 9, 2009, and run through May 31. The show will then travel to the other three cities in the Texas Wax group, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. The purpose of this show is to introduce encaustics to Texas. We also discussed gallery and workshop options that would coincide with the show's arrival in San Antonio. We are still waiting to hear whether our proposal for a group encaustic demo at Luminaria, a one-evening art event in San Antonio, March 14, 2009, has been accepted. Thank you to Johanna Gardner for submitting the proposal and for her great work putting together the blogspot. Happy birthday wishes and special thanks to Michelle Belto, our fearless leader, for her work in organizing and facilitating our meetings.

Upcoming shows of members include Steve DaLuz, oil and mixed media, at AnArte Gallery in San Antonio through Nov. 29, and Buchanan Gallery in Houston opening Dec. 6 and running for about a month. Kudos to Steve for the great feature article on "72," the show at AnArte Gallery, in S.A. Life in Sunday's "San Antonio Express News." Also, Michelle Belto and Beth Preston will be showing encuastics at the Euclid Avenue art show Saturday, Dec. 6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Frankeen Price will host the December meeting at her home studio on December 16th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Bring a dish to share and a small gift of artwork to exchange.

Congratulations to all for such high quality work. It is wonderful to see the range in application of this new-old medium and exciting to be on the cutting edge of its reintroduction to the art world.

Until the next meeting, wax prolific!

Meetings held every other month (

San Antonio Wax Artists Group is Born.

2008-09-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

Michelle Belto lead the meeting.
· Welcome and Overview of Texas Wax
Five eager founding members of Texas Wax/San Antonio gathered on a cool Saturday morning on the outdoor deck overlooking the Riverwalk at Inn on the Riverwalk. It was a delightful and momentous meeting. As indicated in the invitational e-mail, some members of this group had been meeting with Texas Wax/Austin since it’s inception. As a new branch of Texas Wax, we in San Antonio, are looking forward to adding our own “damar” to the mix.

· Self-introduction of members and their art
Most of the members brought a sample of their work. As we have been in Austin, we were impressed with the variety and scope of the work already being done in wax.

· Discussion of Meeting Details
After some discussion about meeting times and dates, we set the next meeting for Tuesday, Oct. 14 10:00-12:00 at the home of Michelle Belto-Schraub. The meeting will be followed with a pot-luck lunch. Since all of the members were located North Central/Northwest and preferred week days to busy Saturdays, we set the meeting time and day to accommodate. There was concern, however, that a mid-day meeting would not be possible for some that might be interested in Texas Wax. The November meeting is scheduled on November 22 back at the Inn. It will begin at 10:30 to accommodate their breakfast schedule. We will evaluate at that time and select a permanent day/time and location (or floating location).

· Use of Blogspot
Like the other Texas Wax groups (Dallas/Houston/Austin) we will set up a Blogspot. It can be marketed through the Texas Wax card designed by Deanna and used to promote communication between the four groups.

Some upcoming opportunities for us all:
· Juried Show for TEXAS WAX
Gwen Plunkett of Texas Wax/Houston has contacted Max at M2Gallery on 19th about an exhibition for the group. He has scheduled the month of May 2009 for us with the following dates secure: May 4, work to the gallery. May 9th opening reception 7-9. May 31, exhibit ends. The gallery takes a 35% commission on anything sold. There is no rental fee. We are responsible for curating/juring, postcards and reception. Each of the other Texas Wax chairs are looking for a gallery to host a like reception for the Fall/Spring of 2009-2010, having the exhibit travel to Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. We would be touting this as the introduction of Encaustics and Texas Wax to Texas. We are also looking at the possibility of having accompanying workshops for a Texas Wax Play Day to coincide with the opening of the exhibit in each city.

· Luminaria - March 14, 2008
Texas Wax/SA has decided to host a demonstration/exhibit in conjunction with Luminaria, the City-wide celebration of the arts scheduled for March 14, 2009. Johanna will research the application process and present ideas to the group at the next meeting.

· Joint workshops in Fall/Spring with Austin
We have planned to do a joint Encaustics Day once a semester, with Austin hosting a session and San Antonio hosting a session each year. With the closeness of the two communities we thought that the cross-pollination of ideas and experiences would be especially helpful to build the community of Texas Wax. We are suggesting that Austin take the lead on the first workshop, probably in the Spring. We will host the Fall workshop in 2009.

· “Fused Expression” Encaustics Show in Austin
We have been invited to participate in the first Texas Wax show that will be held at Bay6Studios beginning Nov 1-16. This is a non-juried show with the expenses of a reception and advertising to be shared by the participants. Bay6 has become known in Austin for its GREAT OPENINGS with a large attendance, great food and live entertainment. The estimate at this time is $50 per participant. If you would like a prospectus, contact Sharon Kylekuhn at bay6studio@gmail.com.

It was an excellent first meeting. Look forward to seeing everyone again in October!