Victoria Wetsch
Billings, MT
www.studioswetsch.com
Exhibit Year: 2022-2023
About the Artist
Originally from Montana, I attended college in Portland, Oregon which led to my career as an architectural store planner and commercial interior designer with leading upscale retailers in Oregon and Washington. During the course of my design experience, I developed a visual display company in Portland that eventually expanded to include a full-service floral business where I earned design awards in Oregon competitions. Currently, I am working as an artist from my studio in Montana. Besides creating art, I’ve enjoyed traveling across many states to exhibit, compete, teach and demonstrate my art and techniques. My works of art have been juried into national and international competitions, awarded and exhibited at galleries throughout the western and mid-western regions, including several national museums. It was an honor to be awarded a Professional Development Grant from the Montana Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts for my Pastel Monotype works. Also, my art works have been juried into the Missoula Art Museum, the Waterworks Art Museum in Miles City and the Yellowstone Art Museum’s annual auction and consignment gallery. The Encaustic Art Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico chose certain of my works for their permanent collection and a variety of my art works have shown throughout the state of Nebraska with the ANAC Exhibition as well as being juried into the annual Colorado International Rosicrucian Art Exhibition. My dedication to the arts is everlasting and my years of participation in the arts has brought great joy to my life.
Artist Statement
Encaustic artistry, “rooted in history,” is derived from the Greek word, enkaustikos which means “to burn in.” It is one of the first recorded art forms practiced by the ancient Egyptians and it is still used to this day to achieve the blending of a traditional medium with today’s contemporary culture. After the fall of the Roman empire, encaustic artistry fell into obscurity for centuries. But a revival of the art form in the 20th century saw a major resurgence by artists such as Pablo Picasso, James Ensor, Paul Klee, Arshile Gorky, David Hockney and Jasper Johns. Encaustic medium requires a specific proportion of purified beeswax mixed with natural fossilized resin, blended with oil-based pigments. My original encaustic works have a lustrous and sculptural appeal. The painting cures and hardens into an ever-enduring work of art while the pollen in the wax produces a final golden luster and a lingering natural fragrance of beeswax. Throughout time, encaustic paintings have proven their longevity and exceptional archival properties when cared for as with all fine art forms. The amazing character of hot wax painting allows me to suspend textures, images and pigments through many layers of fused medium. As a result, this traditional but unique art form has allowed me to create stories inspired from all that surrounds me.