Chelsea Gallery » Encaustic

Great Kickoff to 2009 Sounds & Sites, Artist in Residence

Admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:47:17 +0000

What a nice crowd we had for the kick-off of 2009 ‘Sounds & Sights’ and the ‘Artist in Residence’ program last Thursday evening! Downtown Chelsea was overflowing with people enjoying the street music, but the most interesting events took place right here in the Gallery.

Sandy Knapp was our ‘Artist In Residence’, demonstrating her work with the anciet art of encaustics. Then, later in the evening, ‘The Ben Daniels Band’ almost brought down the Gallery!

The weather was perfect, contributing to a memorable evening of great art, lively music and lots of interesting people.

Sandy Knapp, Encaustics

Sandy Knapp demonstrating her use of encaustics while creating her Art.

‘Artist in Resident’ Sandy Knapp provided an excellent opportunity to experience the act of painting with beeswax, as the ancient Greeks did.

Regarding her talk and demo about encaustics, Sandy said:

“An Art Historian happened into the gallery during my demo and, to her delight, was able to witness encaustic painting for the first time. She said she knew about the process from history books but had never actually seen how it was done or had seen for herself the materials used. She asked permission to take pictures to use in her lectures.

“This medium was used to paint the faces of mummies during ancient times, and possibly the ships of Troy during the days of Homer in 800 BC, and is making a comeback in the Art world once again.”

The Ben Daniels Band

After Sandy’s demonstration the Chelsea Gallery quickly transformed into an intimate concert venue. ‘The Ben Daniels Band’ thrilled the crowd with their blues-based music.

Ben Daniels and band members.

The Chelsea Gallery transforms into an intimate and comfortable concert venue.

Ben Daniels

Here’s a sample of Ben’s music:

Sandy Knapp, Acrylic and Encaustic

Admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 01:15:30 +0000

Sandy Knapp works in a broad variety of mediums. Her style of painting is very intuitive and spontaneous, “art expresses a whisper, a glimpse, a fragment, a meditative thought, just as each moment of our lives are but small glimpses into the whole.” Sandy has been painting for over 25 years. Her art has been primarily fluid acrylics but her current focus is on encaustics, an ancient process using melted wax mixed with pigments. Sandy has won numerous awards from the Ann Arbor Women Artists, and is a member of the Chelsea Painters. She resides in Manchester, Michigan.

Martha Ceccio, Oils and Encaustics

Admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:10:14 +0000

Martha’s landscapes frequently depict a scene where it is difficult to discern just where the sky meets the horizon. The land is at times hidden but not quite lost in the shadows. Her oil paintings and her encaustics embrace the geometric structure of the space and the emotional power of color. The land is disarmingly simple, reduced to tonalities that tend toward abstraction. Martha has received awards from the Ann Arbor Women Artists and in 2002 she was offered a Residency at Voyageurs National Park in Montana and a Graduate Fellowship from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.