Sharon De Valentin - September 2020 Artist of the Month
Our September Artist of the Month is the multi-talented student of ancient techniques - Encaustic Artist Sharon De Valentin.
Sharon has had a wealth of varied experiences throughout her career, and with her “everywhere I go, I try to do art” mentality; she has always found ways to sneak art and creativity into various jobs that may not appear ‘creative’. Whilst working within Programs and Collections at the Griffith Library, Sharon was inspired to create displays and repurpose the paper from old books that couldn’t be donated into ornaments and small sculptures. This led to the creation of the popular giant Bookpaper Emu, which is a much-loved resident of the Griffith Library. As a Trainer and Assessor at Western Riverina Community College, Sharon planned a staff bonding session, using the ‘pour paint’ technique to create a giant collaborative artwork featuring flowers made by each employee. Sharon notes the effects of group art: “I think that’s what art is, art is community and it brings people together. I think everyone is creative it’s just your mindset that says you’re not creative.”
In recent years Sharon has set her intentions towards focusing more time and energy on her artistic career, experimenting with a myriad of mediums including macramé, alcohol inks and sculptural weaving with natural fibres. Researching ancient artistic techniques resulted in a consuming fascination for encaustic painting: “This captivates me, it really gets into my mind. I can’t think of anything else.” Encaustic, from the Greek word enkaustikos meaning ‘to burn in or fuse’, is a process where fire is used to melt layers of wax and mixed pigment to create images. This process ensures that the artwork will stand the test of time without fading once the medium is cured, making encaustic pieces a great investment, whereas other modern art forms may disintegrate with age. The oldest surviving encaustic painting is estimated to be 1900 years old, this aspect intrigues Sharon, knowing that when she is long passed her works will still exist.
Sharon’s encaustic journey starts with Bill the Boutique Beekeeper, who is conveniently located up the road from her home. Bill supplies her with the essential pure, solar-filtered beeswax that is then filtered through fine muslin to remove natural debris, the excess of which she recycles as firestarters. “I find the alchemy of making my own medium from beeswax, damar resin and dry pigments irresistible and addictive. I am a chef, scientist and artist all wrapped into one. I have coined the term from ‘Apiary to Artistry’ to describe my process from start to finish.”
Traditional painting sees an artist working from wet to dry, whereas encaustic artists work from hot to cold, enclosing colour within wax layers: “Unlike paint, the wax media can be unpredictable, even wild at times, however it is this very fact that makes it so enticing to me as an artist. With the right techniques it can be tamed it into beautiful pieces of art, while maintaining a unique unrepeatability about it – an element which I feel can be used to perfectly portray the complex beauty in the world around us.”
Wielding a blowtorch, Sharon employs the reticulation technique to create a lacing effect on her encaustic works. The blowtorch only affects the shellac on the top layer, however concentrating the heat on one spot will effect the wax underneath, enabling her to pick and choose where she exposes the wax. Each piece takes 18 months to cure after the final treatment. “The aroma is delightful and I get lost mixing pigments, layering wax, scraping away and relaying. This is a collaborative process between the wax and me. It truly is the joy of the process, not the end result and in its own way, calming and exciting at the same time. With some of my works I also utilise a shellac burn. This is another natural substance that adds dimension and interest, either adding to the underlay a lacing quality which peeks through at various points, or placing on the surface to add bold texture and conceptual ambiguity.”
Sharon favours all-natural ingredients and art supplies, carefully considering the artistic process from the moment she builds her hand-made substrates to making natural inks from walnuts and avocado seeds: “It is a personal goal to follow each of these ingredients to its very beginning.” Each piece she makes is unique with its own little knocks or scratches, in unconventional sizes to minimize material waste. “I choose to craft my own substrates, as it gives me complete creative freedom which is invaluable as an artist, and also fits in with my philosophy that every part of that process, is part of the artwork itself. I utilise the Japanese Yukisugi technique for the finish of my bespoke cradle boards as this is another ancient practice that I feel compliments the encaustic technique beautifully – both of them using fire as a creative force, essentially as a paintbrush.” Treating the edges of her substrates with the Yakisugi technique, Sharon burns the wood, then rubs the charcoal until it becomes waterproof, resulting in a beautiful and unique textured finish.
As a self-taught artist, Sharon has studied hours and hours of video tutorials and courses to learn all of these unique skills and techniques. She also has had mentors from all over the world in the form of an online encaustic artists network, which she can call on for support and advice: “I love that it is such a small world. I love that everyone shares what they do. It’s like they’re friends who I’ve never met. I think that’s a beautiful thing in the world, this community.”
If you are interested in enquiring after a commissioned piece or wish to see which of Sharon’s beautiful works are currently available, you can follow her Instagram Page where she provides greater insight into her fascinating processes, or you can get in touch via sharondevalentin@gmail.com.
Images and story by Camille Whitehead, Wednesday 16th September, 2020.
