Painting with Beeswax: A Thousand Galaxies

While in the Dunn Lab, Green found inspiration daily that directly impacted each piece she created for the series, allowing her to experiment with equipment to improve her process and create new techniques.

Using a slow and difficult method referred to as encaustic painting (painting with wax) Green incorporated molten beeswax, resin, and pigment to create a relief of texture and depth through hundreds of layers applied one at a time. Using heat throughout the entire process via a blow torch or heat gun in order to make the work stable, there is no molding or shaping of the wax by hand. Almost all of the visible components of each piece are beeswax, including the smooth mounted surface.

Upon completion A Thousand Galaxies will feature 1,000 pieces to represent .000001% of the known 100,000,000,000 galaxies. The James B. Hunt Jr. Library will feature eleven pieces Green created for the series during her time as the Dunn Lab Artist-in-Residence. Please visit the Commons Wall to view these uniquely made and uniquely inspired works.