Clare O'Neill works in encaustic, a wax-based painting medium that dates back thousands of years. Its
origins are in ancient Greece when shipbuilders used beeswax to caulk and waterproof the hulls of their vessels. They discovered
by adding pigment to the wax they could create patterns on the hull's surface for when the warships sailed into battle.
Her mixed-media material consist of molten beeswax, pigment and damar crystals.
The process entails fusing the layers of wax after each application thus allowing the viewer to see many layers at once. During
the 20th century, the availability of electrically heated equipment and commercially prepared materials greatly facilitated
working in this ancient wax-based medium. Encaustic's contradictory aspects – hot/cold, opaque/translucent, liquid/solid, thick/thin, immediate/enduring
– attest to its unique potential to embody many things at once.
This unusual versatility constitutes its long-lasting yet fragile appeal.
Perfection
and control in photo encaustics is impossible. The process is most satisfying if you can allow for the unexpected. The imperfection
of the work is its own elegance.
