On September 19th, artist Pamela (Pam) Winegard gave an artist talk before the opening of her exhibition, “Narratives,” at the St. Edward’s Gallery. In her talk, Winegard explained how each of her unique pieces were created, including those which were not made through encaustic, which is composed of pigments mixed with wax that can be applied to canvas in layers.

Welcome Wagon I (2010-11), encaustic & mixed media on wood panels

Winegard told us the meaning behind her show’s title. In essence, she explained that she is and has always been interested in what we (humans) leave behind, either commercial and/or discarded materials. She includes many architectural references in her pieces as a way to refer to the “push and pull” she sees between what exists and what doesn’t. Winegard also stressed the notion that we need stories and storytellers to keep who we are alive; in essence, she believes that her work tells stories about what humans leave behind, which is a very important reality that needs to be addressed.

During her talk, Winegard displayed some of the compositions that she had completed, including some that were not showcased in the gallery. One such work was entitled the “Welcome Wagon Series” (2010-14), which is a reflection of the Holocaust and genocide; the piece becomes very engaging and encourages conversations on genocide through the interesting amalgamation of mixed media and encaustic. Many of her works, she explained, are in a series because each is a chapter of information that she wants to convey to the viewers.

Community Series (2011)

In the show, Winegard presented several enticing compositions, including two that caught my attention upon entering the gallery. One is entitled “Community Series” (2011). This piece includes four panels composed of a mixture of encaustic and mixed media (especially photos transferred onto encaustic); it seems to be commentary on what happens to the environment as a result of human impact. What first drew me to this piece, though, was the image of a group of people dressed in white (most likely the KKK uniform)  placed next to a large building that looks like a factory; I wanted to know if they were actually symbols of racism juxtaposed to a literal representation of harmful industrialization. The surface texture of the panels, starkly contrasting colors of highlighter green, orange, and black, and muddled appearance of each scene pulls the viewer in and incites dialogue about what the series brings to the forefront as a crucial social problem.

The other piece, entitled “Paths to Nowhere” (2014), caught my attention before I had even seen it. In the talk, Winegard mentioned that she had had a dream that she wanted to depict, so she dropped all her other work in order to capture it. I have always been interested in the dream world and the many ways it can be represented, so I was immediately drawn to the concept of Winegard visualizing her dream through encaustic, a medium that I have come to love as a result of the workshop she had done with my painting class. I found that the combination of cardboard-looking pieces placed over top of photo transfers, and images of an angel, water towers, and an upside-down flag on top of a sky blue background encouraged me to look deeper into the piece. Many of her pieces are social commentaries, so I immediately began analyzing the scene, keeping in mind what Winegard regarded as symbols of the U.S. (water towers) and all of the anomalies (such as the upside-down flag); perhaps this piece is addressing the ways the U.S. has fallen from grace (hence the upside-down flag and/or the cardboard medium that looks like rubble). Unlike many of her pieces, though, the diptych seems ethereal (in the sense that it was not as serious and up-front about the social problem it was addressing) and, yet, still engaging because although it is capturing a dream (something impermanent), it is still bringing a social issue to the viewer’s attention.

Paths to Nowhere (2014) (Diptych)

Winegard defines art as a very intimate form of writing for the artist; she has put into words what I have been trying to communicate all these years as an artist myself. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to work alongside and view Pam Winegard’s pieces in encaustic. She has inspired me to experiment with encaustic and to push myself to try more mediums that can allow me to express what I desire more thoroughly.