Highfield Hall & Gardens presents

Highfield Hall & Gardens is pleased to announce a special art workshop introducing the technique of encaustic, working with wax and pigments. In this workshop led by award-winning New England artist, Debra Claffey, you will learn the basics of working with beeswax and pigment—layering, fusing, incising, embedding, including using the materials safely and efficiently. Encaustic is a Greek word meaning “to heat or burn in” (enkaustikos). Heat is used throughout the process, from melting the beeswax and varnish to fusing the layers of wax and adding colored pigments. You will take home two pieces of your original art created during the class. Basic materials will be provided, suitable for ages 16 and older.
“Encaustic is perhaps the most beautiful of all paints, and it is as versatile as any 21st century medium. It can be polished to a high gloss, carved, scraped, layered, collaged, dipped, cast, modeled, sculpted, textured, and combined with oil. It cools immediately, so that there is no drying time, yet it can always be reworked.” –R&F Paints.
This workshop is in conjunction with one of Highfield’s current exhibitions, SEAChange: Meditations in Sustainability. This exhibit features 107 works from monoprints to sculpture, by four artists working in the encaustic medium. The artists Debra Claffey, Patricia Gerkin, Donna Hamil Talman, and Charyl Weissbach, formed Elemental Collective through which they engage in critical discourse and art practice addressing and raising awareness of current issues in society and the environment. Each artist makes use of organic forms and abstractions and is inspired by nature and its processes, such as earth altering heating, cooling, and pressure. Open to the public through October 31st, 2021.
Class size is limited. Pre-registration required.
Encaustic Workshop with Debra Claffey
Sunday, October 3rd @ 9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Tickets are $140 / $150 non-members.

Visit our website to register and for more information – www.highfieldhallandgardens.org

Gallery Hours:

Tuesday – Friday, 10 am – 4 pm
Saturday – Sunday, 10 am – 2 pm
Grounds open daily, year-round from dawn to dusk.