Media

Harriette Tsosie: Creative Journey

The Mentor and the Medium

Like most artists who work with wax, I was already working in another medium when I discovered encaustic. I had studied acrylic painting with Jules Kirschenbaum, a New York artist who was “in-residence” at Drake University (Des Moines, IA) when my then- spouse accepted a faculty position there. As a faculty wife I was able to take classes without paying tuition. I enrolled in Jules’ courses repeatedly, fully embracing the master/apprentice relationship. We not only painted, we read and discussed books he assigned. (Mine was Celine’s existential Journey to the End of the Night). More than how to paint, Jules showed us how to live as artists. He encouraged our intellectual curiosity. I think most artists have had a mentor like Jules sometime during their creative journey. Without one, the journey is lonely and difficult.

Moving to the Land of Enchantment 

I moved to New Mexico in 1995 and soon bought a small house in a rural area. After Iowa’s gloomy interior light, New Mexico made my eyes happy. I was surrounded by beautiful landscapes and fascinating cultures. For the first time, I had dedicated studio space--a small concrete block building on the property -- and time to paint on the weekends. (I worked full time until 2003).  I continued painting with layers of acrylic washes, as Jules had taught me. The layers gave both physical and psychological depth to the work. I liked that. I didn’t want to do work devoid of meaning. I saw painting as wordless communication, believing that recognizable images communicated more powerfully than abstract ones. By working in a series, I explored my subjects from multiple perspectives. “Migration” was the first series of acrylic paintings I completed after coming to New Mexico. It was based on a piece of music by Carlos Nakai and Peter Kater. It included twelve 12” x 12” canvases, referencing the movements of their work.

"Migration." 2002. Acrylic/Canvas.   12" x 12."

Encountering Encaustic

A young artist --Shawna Moore-- moved in next door and befriended me. She took an encaustic workshop from Santa Fe painter Ellen Koment (Encaustic Arts Magazine, Summer 2012 issue). 
I had never heard of encaustic, but I loved the paintings Shawna made with it. They had layers. There could be series. I took the workshop.

"Phosphene Glyph #5."  2007.
Acrylic/paper/panel.  30" x 15."

In 2004 I married a Native American man I had been dating and moved to his pueblo. He built me an incredible studio, looking out on the mountains. For a while I continued painting with acrylic, completing a series on baskets, then one on petro- glyphs. The baskets referenced aspects of my life and psyche such as the Native ceremonies. I felt they were alive. The petroglyph series inspired a pilgrimage to California’s Little Petroglyph Canyon for a firsthand look at the ancient images pecked in rock. I dreamed they came to life at night, left the rocks and moved around. My husband’s culture continues to influence me profoundly.

Techniques I practiced with acrylic served me well as I began working more with encaustic. Layering the wax felt natural. I loved the immediacy of the torch, the very idea of playing with fire. Since I had been trained to paint representationally (set up the still life, draw it, then scale it up on the canvas), that is what I tried to do. Even though landscape had never been my subject matter, I now lived in a landscape I couldn’t ignore. Aspens became the subject of my first encaustic series. I carved into the

"Aspen Glow."  2006.
 Encaustic/panel.  5" x 5."

wax, pushing pigmented encaustic into the grooves to create the tree trunks, cross hatching
for the bark. Tedious. Creating images with encaustic proved difficult. Once I lit the torch, my images moved, melted, sometimes even disappeared! I was no longer in control. 

"Pollen Men."  2010.  Encaustic/Panel.  30" x 30."

Embracing Abstraction

That proved to be a good thing, a freeing thing. The longer I worked with encaustic, the more abstract my work became. My subject matter changed dramatically: alternative realities (i.e. premonitions), archetypes, symbols (particularly 



alchemical symbols), myth, and language now captured my interest. I read Joseph Campbell and explored alchemy: embedded pieces of older work into the wax, a technique I learned from Laura Moriarity (see “Attraction”).

"Attraction."  2011.
 Encaustic/panel.  12" x 12."

Continuing to explore encaustic, I enrolled in an R & F workshop in Texas (Gina Adams) and took a five-day monotype workshop from encaustic master Paula Roland in Santa Fe, adding to my skill set. Encaustic is seductive. For me, the challenge has been to remain focused on content and not become distracted by the many techniques, tools, gimmicks and special effects an artist can achieve with it.

Coming Full Circle

In 2009 I moved to Albuquerque and got involved with its rich arts community.  I collaborated with other artists to produce Mining the Unconscious - http://www. miningtheunconscious.org
a series of three exhibitions and 20 public programs unleashed in Santa Fe in 2011. The project was responsive to the long-awaited publication of Carl Jung’s Red Book journals. It created an on-going dialog between the participating artists and the larger community. 

"Alchemy #3."  2011.
Mixed media/panel.  14" x 14."

From the experience I developed a close relationship with three artists working in other media.  We're currently exploring identity issues through another series of exhibitions and public programs, "Creation/Migration: Stories of the Journey."  

htpp://creationmigration stories.blogspot.com

We’ve all had our DNA analyzed through National Geographic’s “Geno- graphic” project. We now know the migration routes our distant ancestors took out of Africa and are further researching our respective genealogies. We’re interested in the places myth and science intersect: do our DNA results contradict what we have believed about who we are? My work for this project is based on my paternal grandparents’ diaries and love letters, which are more than 100 years old. They are a fascinating window to life in Baltimore and New York City in the early 1900s. The work will include encaustic, collage, acrylic and giclée. The journey continues.

"Someone Else's Reality."  2010.  Encaustic/panel.  48" x 27."