Encaustic-
Painting with colored pigment and hot wax.
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| Shoreline Observation I |
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| Shoreline Observation II |
I have been painting since 1996 and along the way I have met
many, many talented artists. Over the
last couple years it has been a delight to meet artist, Jane Michalski. My two
cents; her pieces are cool and soothing.
The color blending reminds me of how clouds glide together forming rare
shapes blurring into the sky. She was kind enough to grant me an interview.
What was your first art
experience as a kid?
When I was very small I watched a Saturday morning TV show, I can’t remember
the name. There was an artist who gave drawing lessons and I would watch and
try to copy what he did. My parents
encouraged me and bought me art materials. I also used to copy pictures of
flowers out of books. In school I always loved art and remember getting special
attention for being able to draw.
Where did you grow up?
I am originally from Wisconsin; living in a couple different towns in the
southeastern part of the state. My family eventually ended up back in the town
I was born in, Sheboygan, Wisconsin; my parent’s home town. I really only lived
there for two years while I finished high school, then I moved to Milwaukee to
attend college at UWM where I got my BFA and met my husband, Frank.
Tell me about your family:
What occupations did your parents have when you were a child; Do you have
siblings & what do they do?
My father,
John Lubbers, was the Director of Social Services for the different counties
that we lived in. The only way he could
advance his career or get a raise was to move to a different county because he
was head of the Department. That’s why
we moved 4 times while I was growing up. I was always very proud of what he
did, even though he was sometimes known as “the Welfare Man”. My family was old school liberal and believed
in helping others and trying to make a difference in society. My Mom, Pat, stayed home while I was young but eventually went
back to work when I was in junior high school.
She worked as a secretary at the West Bend Company; what we now call
being an executive assistant. I have two sisters and one brother. My older sister Anne and I
were only about a year apart and spent a great deal of time together as
children. We played outside a lot and because we were in small towns, we would
be out exploring in the woods or walking around with a great deal of
freedom. We spent more time catching
frogs, watching birds and exploring than playing with dolls. Anne went on to
study Plant Ecology and is a Biology professor at Centre College in
Danville. My younger sister, Julie, followed
more of the Social Work path and works for Milwaukee County as part of a team
that helps foster families and children. My “little” brother, John Jr, has
worked his way up to a County Supervisor in the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources.
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| 3 North Point Observation |
What made you first realize you wanted to pursue a career in art?
I originally had planned to major in Journalism. I felt that it combined
writing and social activism; two things that I had an interest in. As a senior
in high school, I was chosen to be the editor of the school paper. Somehow, by
the end of the year, my interest in Journalism started to diminish; too many
deadlines, perhaps. I always took art classes in school and made art on my own,
so my interest there was strong. During the summer after high school graduation,
I was reading and spending time a considerable amount of time by myself. I read
different kinds of philosophy and poetry. One day I had a kind of Satori or
strong realization that I wanted to study art further. It may have been an
outburst of youthful idealism, but I also realized that it was a deep part of
my personality and my true self. My
parents let me change my major and put off going to college for a few extra
months so that I could apply to art school.
Do you have a place you go
to for inspiration?
There is
an outcropping of Silurian Bedrock along the shore of Lake Michigan in
Sheboygan at a place that juts out into the lake called North Point. It is over
400 million years old and is within walking distance of my parent’s home and
the street where my father grew up. I am
using a series of photographs taken there as the basis for a number of
paintings.
What is the strongest
influence in your life on your art?
I think that the strongest influence in life on my art comes from reading,
observing, and thinking about what our journey in life is about. I read poetry,
history, literature and like to keep up with current events.
In your art career, who
have you met that has been the most helpful or mentoring?
I have
many wonderful friends who are artists and I am grateful for the insights they
have given me into their work or comments about my work that have helped me
grow. I was introduced to Encaustic painting through following a hunch about
wax media and googling it on the Internet. There I learned about the resurgent
interest in encaustic and found the book: The
Art of Encaustic Painting by Joanne Mattera. Here in Chicago, I learned some basic things
about encaustic technique by observing a demonstration by Kathleen Waterloo,
and later had a chance to visit her studio and show work with her. Shelley
Gilchrist was one of the first people to buy an encaustic painting from me and
later went on to found Fused Chicago, a group that has helped further
exhibitions, education and exchanges of information among local artists working
in the medium. Artist and friend Monica
Rezman, was fantastically honest with me about some of my early efforts and
steered me onto a direct path. My dear friend Beth LeFauve, another amazingly
talented artist and designer, taught me how to pay attention to details when
hanging work and gives me constant encouragement. The fantastic Mary Ellen
Croteau has invited me to participate in the 2014 Stockholm Supermarket Art Fair
resulting in my first trip to and exhibition in Europe, which will be an
exciting leap forward.
How has your work evolved
from the first painting to the last?
I’ve worked in several different media including Acrylic, Oil, Pastel,
Mixed-media Constructions and finally encaustic. I have most often worked in a
non-representational style, with a brief journey through narrative work. Abstraction appeals to me because I am aware
of aspects of my perception and experience that are non-verbal. The subtle differences in color, texture, and
structure that make up my paintings provide an endless means of exploring this.
Encaustic provides an engaging number of variations of those elements for me to
explore.
What is your process? What
are the steps to make a piece?
I start by making my own panels as the substrate for my paintings. I also make
my own encaustic medium from cosmetic grade beeswax and dammar resin. I use oil colors to pigment the melted wax.
This gives me a lot of freedom to use colors of my choice and it is also more
economical. Most recently I have been
using photographs that I have taken as sources of texture, color, light, and
place; as starting points for the abstraction so that I avoid repeating
myself. I’m trying to avoid habits of
repeated decoration. The painting is built up
of layers of wax with each layer being heated or fused to the one beneath it. A
variation in the translucency of the wax creates different color combinations.
I scrape and score the wax to allow some of the color from layers underneath to
reemerge. I work until I sense completion and a level of complexity that
does not feel forced. There is usually a process of creating and destroying (by
covering some things up) until this happens.
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| North Point Observation II |
What was the most fun (best) exhibit you
have been part of?
The best exhibition I have been associated with was not one that I was in.
This year, The Hairpin Arts Center was host to the Contemporary Arts Council’s
exhibition The Presence of Absence;
curated by Deb and Dave Tolchinsky from Northwestern University.
My role was to facilitate the curators and artists getting into
the Hairpin and to manage the gallery after the show was up. Artist Paola Cabal
created a painted installation piece on the wall of the Hairpin. I let her into
the gallery every 2 weeks at 7 am in the morning so that she could make
sunlight observations based on what she saw on the wall. Her final piece is a
composite of her observations that looks like subtle reflected light. I was
really happy to be part of her creative process in a small way. I got to see the work of inspired curator’s and artists being
professionally installed and staged in the space. Then I spent many hours with the wonderful
work in the Gallery. I got to see a
truly professional team put together a museum quality show.
If you could curate an exhibit
who/ what artists would be in your lineup?
I have
produced and curated a number of different shows both for Milwaukee Avenue Arts
festival, and for the Hairpin Arts Center.
In 2012, I co-curated a show called AREA for the Hairpin Arts Center
that was an exhibition of artists from the Logan Square/ Avondale
neighborhoods. We have some wonderfully
talented artists here. That show included Ani Afshar, Lynn Basa, Mary Ellen
Croteau, Tracy Kostenbader, Anna Kunz, Beth LeFauve, Monica Rezman, Julie
Sulzen, Rosemary Warner, and Dan Zamudo.
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| Echo II |
What is your take on the Chicago art
scene?
It seems like there are a multitude of Chicago Art Scenes, just like there are
many different neighborhoods and all of them have interesting things about them
to discover.
What are your 5 favorite places in
Chicago?
The stone wall under the North Avenue Bridge
at the Kennedy expressway; the view of downtown along the Chicago River or
driving in from the Ohio Feeder ramp, The Lurie Garden at Millennium Park, Lake
Michigan Horizon seen from anywhere, Logan Blvd. in April when the leaves have
just come out.
Your idea night out in Chicago would be?
Any time I can get out, it’s great.
What are you reading?
I have two books on loan from the
Library in my Kindle: Catherine the
Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie, and A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and
Fire book 4 by George Martin
What is your favorite music, song,
singer, band, etc?
I like a fairly eclectic mix: Florence and the Machine, Arcade Fire, James
MacMurtry, older Leonard Cohen, come to mind. Sometimes my husband & I just
grab some vinyl from our old collections and just go back in time.
What other talents or passions do you
have?
I do a substantial amount of Gardening, both flower and vegetable. I have been devoting an insane number of hours
volunteering on the board of the Logan Square Chamber of Arts trying to launch
the Hairpin Arts Center at 2800 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Avondale. It has been a
fantastic opportunity to collaborate with other community members and artists
trying to create programming and run an arts center.
If you were not doing art what would you
be doing?
I can’t imagine not doing art.
Catch Michalski's upcoming exhibit: Super Market Art Fair in Stockholm, Sweden
in February 2014.
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