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Interview
September 2015 Sherrie Posternak Interviewed by Diane C. Taylor |
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Sherrie Posternak, Colorful in Wax
by Diane C. Taylor (DCT)
by Diane C. Taylor (DCT)
Sherrie Posternak
Petite, vivacious, artsy chic—Sherrie Posternak. With a B.A. in Fine Arts with concentration in jewelry making from Montclair State College in New Jersey preceded by course work in photography, filmmaking, and psychology at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Sherrie Posternak has worked in many artistic fields. After years of mosaics, she’s now working in encaustic.
Diane C. Taylor (DCT): When did you come to Tucson?
Sherrie Posternak (SP): In the spring of 1997. The year before, my husband at the time and I were looking for a place to retire in the future. We came on a visit. While he played golf, I looked around. At the end, I told him I was ready to move right then. The town just called to me. We went home to rural Virginia, and put our house on the market, but it took a year to sell it.
DCT: You began by making jewelry?
SP: I made jewelry for about ten years. Actually, I see jewelry as more sculptural than graphic, that is, more 3D than 2D. And I see myself more as a graphic person.
In Middleburg, I didn’t have time. I owned a shop / gallery there for nine years, with constant interruptions. And I put on shows in the gallery twice a year. I loved the buying and setting up of displays. I learned everything about the business, the bookkeeping, and so forth. About three years before we left, I began making mosaic pieces, which I continued here. But it was becoming pretty much production work, and I got tired of it.
Diane C. Taylor (DCT): When did you come to Tucson?
Sherrie Posternak (SP): In the spring of 1997. The year before, my husband at the time and I were looking for a place to retire in the future. We came on a visit. While he played golf, I looked around. At the end, I told him I was ready to move right then. The town just called to me. We went home to rural Virginia, and put our house on the market, but it took a year to sell it.
DCT: You began by making jewelry?
SP: I made jewelry for about ten years. Actually, I see jewelry as more sculptural than graphic, that is, more 3D than 2D. And I see myself more as a graphic person.
In Middleburg, I didn’t have time. I owned a shop / gallery there for nine years, with constant interruptions. And I put on shows in the gallery twice a year. I loved the buying and setting up of displays. I learned everything about the business, the bookkeeping, and so forth. About three years before we left, I began making mosaic pieces, which I continued here. But it was becoming pretty much production work, and I got tired of it.
SPosternak_Pulp Fiction_
DCT: So what does that mean?
SP: I moved on to collage, then encaustic, making one-of-a-kind pieces. They’re more expensive, but I really enjoy what I’m doing. Encaustic feels right, and it overpowers any other feeling in art that I’ve ever had. It’s easy to make something beautiful. The challenge is to work beyond the beautiful, and to make it your own. Encaustic uses beeswax, a natural material that gives depth and glow.
And it’s taken me in another direction, teaching. I’ve gotten very positive feedback on that, and I really enjoy it as well. I spent two weeks in June in Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the International Encaustic Conference. Besides taking a couple of workshops, I did a demo during the meeting as well as gave a course on transferring and embedding images (as I’ve done there for the past four years), which is my specialty.
Incidentally, I’m NOT an encaustic artist. I’m an artist working in encaustic.
SP: I moved on to collage, then encaustic, making one-of-a-kind pieces. They’re more expensive, but I really enjoy what I’m doing. Encaustic feels right, and it overpowers any other feeling in art that I’ve ever had. It’s easy to make something beautiful. The challenge is to work beyond the beautiful, and to make it your own. Encaustic uses beeswax, a natural material that gives depth and glow.
And it’s taken me in another direction, teaching. I’ve gotten very positive feedback on that, and I really enjoy it as well. I spent two weeks in June in Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the International Encaustic Conference. Besides taking a couple of workshops, I did a demo during the meeting as well as gave a course on transferring and embedding images (as I’ve done there for the past four years), which is my specialty.
Incidentally, I’m NOT an encaustic artist. I’m an artist working in encaustic.
DCT: Is that a safe material to work with?
SP: The general public and some artists think beeswax is toxic, but if you handle it properly, it’s not a problem.
DT: And the pieces don’t melt in the sun?
SP: You don’t expose encaustic pieces to direct sunlight, just as you don’t expose oil paintings to direct sunlight. The pieces have to be packed correctly for transport, but that’s the case with all art. It’s actually more fragile when it freezes than when it gets too hot. For my encaustic I use eight parts beeswax and one part damar resin, which raises the melting point and gives the piece more clarity, sheen, and a little more brittleness than beeswax alone. Encaustic with this mixture generally begins to melt at 150 degrees or more, well over any normal temperatures in a house.
SP: The general public and some artists think beeswax is toxic, but if you handle it properly, it’s not a problem.
DT: And the pieces don’t melt in the sun?
SP: You don’t expose encaustic pieces to direct sunlight, just as you don’t expose oil paintings to direct sunlight. The pieces have to be packed correctly for transport, but that’s the case with all art. It’s actually more fragile when it freezes than when it gets too hot. For my encaustic I use eight parts beeswax and one part damar resin, which raises the melting point and gives the piece more clarity, sheen, and a little more brittleness than beeswax alone. Encaustic with this mixture generally begins to melt at 150 degrees or more, well over any normal temperatures in a house.
SPosternak_Push Pull 1_
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SPosternak_The Triumph of Life_
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DCT: And how do you get color into it? And the patterns?
SP: I mix oil paint or dried pigment into the encaustic medium. I like stencils and repetitive patterns, and I like to mix geometric and organic patterns. I often work on a cradled panel, like a shallow wood box with an open back. I try to combine seeming opposites in a pleasing manner. I’ve always seen myself as a combination of opposites, too – an artist but a type A personality and very organized. It’s probably why I also like Baroque music; it’s precise but evocative.
DCT: Do you work on anything besides wood?
SP: I’ve started painting on soft supports instead, an oil-absorbent sheet used in oil spills or natural cotton batting used for quilting. I like these better because I can get a very graphic look in ambient light but it’s also translucent when backlit. I can also sew through the fabric and attach things easily. When I make a piece, it’s a conversation between the piece and me. The piece “tells” me when it’s done.
I’m a member of the PaperWorks group and I make encaustic books. For me, I make art without thinking about selling it.
DCT: And what else are you doing?
SP: I’ve been working for the past three years on a new project. I will launch Cereza Oilcloth Studio, LLC in mid-September. I’m designing aprons and bags, using Mexican oilcloth. I’ve found a seamstress in Nogales to make the items, and I’ve got agents on both sides of the border for the importation. I’ve received our first big order of inventory and now only need to finish constructing my website (Cerezastudio.com). I plan to sell both wholesale and retail, and I’m working on finding outlets now. The apron and all other products are lined and stitched with a multi-colored zigzag stitch, one detail which makes my products unique. We’ve also got bags in three different sizes, both flat and gusseted.
SPosternak_Offerings_
DCT: That seems to be a big change… I know you speak Spanish quite fluently. How did that come about?
SP: For the last eight or nine years I’ve been enamored with Mexico. I have a casita in San Carlos, although I prefer Guanajuato. I’ve spent a lot of time there, beginning with attending an immersion course at a language school. I go back every year for at least a month, often in October during the three-week Festival Internacional Cervantino, the most important international artistic and cultural event in Mexico and Latin America. My work was always colorful, but now it also reflects the themes and culture of Mexico.
I’ve been affected generally by the Mexican cultural attitude towards life and death. I do a lot of “Day of the Dead” pieces. I think exploring this attitude has helped me in dealing with the death of my father in April and the ongoing health problems my mother has. Art is healing, as well as being a conversation with and a gift to others.
DCT: Have you had shows there?
SP: Yes, I’ve had four or five shows in Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende. Incidentally, several years ago I made an art installation and an accompanying book to try to save a fishing village in San Carlos, Mexico.
DCT: And was it successful?
SP: The people in the village were happy, but there’s been an ongoing lawsuit. I’m not too optimistic about the outcome. When I visited San Carlos at the end of May, I was shocked to see that the fisherman of El Tomate had been uprooted again, and their humble shacks destroyed.
SP: For the last eight or nine years I’ve been enamored with Mexico. I have a casita in San Carlos, although I prefer Guanajuato. I’ve spent a lot of time there, beginning with attending an immersion course at a language school. I go back every year for at least a month, often in October during the three-week Festival Internacional Cervantino, the most important international artistic and cultural event in Mexico and Latin America. My work was always colorful, but now it also reflects the themes and culture of Mexico.
I’ve been affected generally by the Mexican cultural attitude towards life and death. I do a lot of “Day of the Dead” pieces. I think exploring this attitude has helped me in dealing with the death of my father in April and the ongoing health problems my mother has. Art is healing, as well as being a conversation with and a gift to others.
DCT: Have you had shows there?
SP: Yes, I’ve had four or five shows in Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende. Incidentally, several years ago I made an art installation and an accompanying book to try to save a fishing village in San Carlos, Mexico.
DCT: And was it successful?
SP: The people in the village were happy, but there’s been an ongoing lawsuit. I’m not too optimistic about the outcome. When I visited San Carlos at the end of May, I was shocked to see that the fisherman of El Tomate had been uprooted again, and their humble shacks destroyed.
SPosternak_Apron_
