A Look Back

We were 250 strong this time around at the Provincetown Inn in Provincetown, Massachusetts--we maxed out!--with Post-Con workshops at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. I've posted a big, image-filled roundup on the History of the Encaustic Conference blog, along with recaps of each of the previous four years. Here are the basics--but, really, check out the full Conference 5 report here.

Our keynote speaker, Jackie Battenfield

Talks and Demos

. Jackie Battenfield, artist and author of The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love, gave an inspiring Keynote talk on creating a place for yourself in the art world. . The Saturday Morning Panel, Mastering Media, looked at the ways we can promote ourselves and our work. Panelists were Cherie Mittenthal, Nancy Natale, Jeff Schaller, Linda Womack and Joanne Mattera as moderator

. Our three-hour Monotype Marathon was a huge hit on Friday afternoon--thank you, Dorothy Furlong-Gardner, Kathleen Lemoine, and David A. Clark.

. We had some two dozen talks and demos over the course of three days. Thank you to Jhina Alvarado, Nancy Azara, Kristy Battani, Michelle Belto, Kim Bernard, Andrea Bird, Darla Bjork, Dorothy Cochran, Miles Conrad, Elena De La Ville, Hylla Evans, Richard Frumess, Lorraine Glessner, Lynette Haggard, Deborah Kapoor, Kimberly Kent, Brenda Mallory, Laura Moriarty, Catherine Nash, Sherrie Posternak, Lisa Pressman, Toby Sisson, Tracy Spadafora, Deanna Wood, Gregory Wright, Tania Wycherly

Coverage

Provincetown showed itself to be an ardent supporter of The Conference, recognizing the cultural and financial importance of our event on the town. At least three local articles covered our event: Provincetown Magazine, Provincetown.com, and the Cape Cod Times, as well as a nice feature in Artscope Magazine, which covers all of New England. We expect the town to remain supportive in the coming years.

Below: The spread in Provincetown Magazine

(Thanks to Lynette Haggard for scanning the whole spread. Click to enlarge for reading)

Exhibitions

 We had five gallery exhibits in town, all opening on Friday evening, P-town’s traditional night for openings:

. Kobalt Gallery, hosted the Conference’s juried exhibition, Beeline. Juried by Kobalt’s owner, Francine D’Olimpio, some 35 artists exhibited work that referenced bees, honey, hives and other apian themes. Recipients of awards were: Marybeth Rothman, Juror’s Award; Christine Kyle, Director’s Award; and Anne Cavanaugh, Castle Hill Award. Recipients each received a comped entry to The Conference in 2012.

All the name of the artists in these shows will be included in the History post.

. Bowersock Gallery’s Wax in Motion exhibition, juried by Steve Bowersock and Kim Bernard, exhibited the work of 16 artists, most of whom attended The Conference. Catherine Nash received the exhibition award, which comes with a solo show in 2012

. Rice/Polak Gallery featured Surface Attraction, co-curated by gallery director, Marla Rice, and Conference Directror, Joanne Mattera. The focus was on the texture in a variety of mediums, including encaustic, in work that was largely geometric and chromatically resonant.

. At Ernden Gallery, gallery director Dennis Costin featured work in encaustic by gallery artist Deanna Wood and guest artist Milisa Galazzi.

. The upstairs gallery at Kennedy Studios featured scenes of Provincetown and marine abstractions by Cid Bolduc and Marc Kundman

Post Conference

In five days of Post-Con we offered 20 daylong workshops at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, aka “Castle Hill.” We also had three evening events— “Looking at Wax,” a talk by Joanne; the Drumming Circle, organized by Lynette and Greg Haggard; and the Closing of the Sculpture Invitational in Wax, curated by Cherie—as well as our Friday gift to the conferees who stayed the whole week: Rebecca Matarazzi’s talk on Beekeeping at Castle Hill, replete with a visit to the hives, and Joanne’s Wax Walk in Provincetown, in which we revisited the shows, chatted with the dealers and then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with coffee and chocolate.

Joanne already started to think about the Keynote speaker and the Saturday Morning Panel, as well as the talks and demos.  Cherie has already begun to think about the Post-Con workshops. See for our Call for Proposals below.