Artists Describing Their Art:
Alan Soffer - Alan Soffer began studying sculpture and clay in 1973 transitioning to abstract painting in 1985, through a breakthrough program at Bennington College with Sandy Stone. His abstractions have been in the pursuit of the unknown, unique, and personal depths of the unconscious. Rather than confining his energies to a single medium, he sensitively chooses materials that accommodate the concepts at hand. Early constructions were in clay and found objects, then discovering printmaking and photography, which he learned on his own. Finally, focusing on painting with acrylic, oil, and wax. Encaustics allowed him to marry a sculptural component to his painterly approach, following his studies at Ringling School in 1998. The hot, pigmented wax's inherent translucency perfectly supports his vocabulary for expressing space from the microscopic to the galactic. Whatever the direction, the work is always influenced by Joseph Campbell, the noted mythologist, who Soffer considers his mentor. He organized the first national encaustic conference in the US in 2005 and continues teaching encaustic technique as well as abstract painting primarily through workshops. Major one person shows have been presented at: DCCA, Wilmington DE; Borowsky Gallery, Phila.; Rosenfeld Gallery, Phila.; Widener U., Chester PA; Atlantic City Art Center; Robert Roman ...
T.e. Siewert - I found myself at that place in time where you know you must do what you were meant to do and do it now or it will never happen. For me, that meant creating art - taking the experiences and feelings of my life and placing them on a surface to try and capture meanings that I can share with others. My hope is that the viewer of my art will share these experiences in a way that will move them, that they will take something with them that will be remembered. I liken it to a dance where I invite them to share a moment of time with me and we will together explore thoughts of nature, secrets, times and places that we dream of or wish for. Or at times to simply reflect serenity - a feeling of everything in its place and as it should be. Sometimes the dance is samba-like, joyous and colorful - sometimes its a waltz, slow and purposeful. But always it is moving and requires thought and invokes emotion. I have used many mediums over the years but none has captured my imagination like encaustic - an inspired blend of beeswax and damar resin. Placed in ...