Encaustic painting — applying hot wax mixed with colored pigments to a surface such as wood — is believed to date as far back as ancient Egypt. It’s also a medium that more modern artists like Easthampton’s Sharon Ligorner enjoy for its flexibility and immediacy: the ability to shape a painting in the moment.
Ligorner, a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art, also studied painting in Florence, Italy, and she lived in New York City for a time. Among several places, she has exhibited her work in recent years at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, at Smith College and, this past November, at Elusie Gallery in Easthampton.
Hampshire Life: Talk about the work you’re currently doing. What does it involve, and what are you trying to achieve?
Sharon Ligorner: For over a decade, my main medium has been encaustic paint, though I also enjoy gouache, acrylic and oil. I paint abstractly, focusing on color and geometry and allowing the process to direct me. It’s a dance of creation and destruction: By adding and subtracting paint, I transform my surface until the unexpected outcomes surprise me.
Circles are an important theme in my work. I love the encaustic medium for its transparency and its ability to be manipulated constantly. I use a razor blade and dental tools to carve and subtract as often as I use a brush to apply.
H.L.: What do you draw inspiration from? Do you ever have any “Eureka!” moments?
S.L.:I look at plants, microscopic skeletons of algae, the light in the sky when the sun is setting, Near Eastern textile patterns, crop circles and planetary rotations. The Eureka moments happen when these seemingly disparate inspirations harmonize together in a painting.
H.L.: How do you know when your work is finished?
S.L.: When a painting feels balanced, and my eyes don’t tire of moving around the piece, I know a painting is done.
On the other hand, “finished” paintings may get reworked even a year later. Once I go back into it, it can change so drastically that it obscures the previous painting(s) underneath. One painting was reincarnated at least five times after being “done.”
H.L.: Have you ever had a “mistake” — a project that seemed to be going south — turn into a wonderful discovery instead?
S.L.: Yes! I can think of a few times when I was ready to pack it in for the day and at the last minute something gelled as if by magic. The visual traces of what existed prior can often accent the revision.
H.L.: What do you do when you’re stuck?
S.L.: If I’m in my studio, I look at books. Sometimes I clean and organize. If I’m stuck with painting, I make collages. Being stuck is less of an issue than it was 30 years ago. Just being in my studio is usually enough to awaken creativity. Seeing art regularly helps keep me inspired.
H.L.: If you weren’t an artist, what do you think you’d be?
S.L.:I may have gone to college for psychology. Instead, I chose art school, and after having kids, I became a yoga teacher and certified aromatherapist, which both reflect my lifestyle choices.
— Steve Pfarrer
You can read more about Sharon Ligorner at cottagestreetstudios.com/artists/sharon-ligorner.
If you’d like to recommend someone for the Art Maker column, contact Steve Pfarrer at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.