Artist Statement
I paint with pigmented bees wax and damar resin for its willingness to be transformed, both in form and texture. The wax is fused with cloth, a material that lays bare the stories of its origins. Cutting, re-arranging, and layering traces of its past to produce a raw reconfiguration. Tacit explorations of gender and identity animate the hermeneutics of the work. Frayed seams, tangled threads, torn lace, veils, scarves and other repurposed fabrics garner new meaning as metaphors of an evolving self.
Selected Exhibitions
2024
Encaustic Paintings by Alaina Enslen, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
Works in Wax: Contemporary Women Encaustic Artists, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
2023
Summer Art Show, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
Spring Palette, Gallery 31, Poughkeepsie, New York
Complexity of Joy, Mapspace, Port Chester, New York
2022
With Wax: Materiality & Mixed Media in Encaustic, Chester County Art Association, West Chester, Pennsylvania
Small Works, Woodstock Artist Association & Museum, Woodstock, New York
2021
New Work, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
Far & Wide, Woodstock Artist Association & Museum, Woodstock, New York
2020
Stay Home, Make Art, Virtual Exhibition, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, New York
Remnants, River Wind Gallery, Beacon, New York
2018
Winter Art Show, Green Light Gallery, Cornwall-On-Hudson, New York
2017
Bird Watching, University of Lisbon, Caleidoscópio, Portugal
Pop Up Art Exhibition, Orange Alert III: Espiritu, Newburgh, New York
2016
Bird Watching, Folio Festival, Obidos, Portugal
Bird Watching, University of Coimbra’s Science Museum, Coimbra, Portugal
2015
Hudson Valley in Encaustic, Green Light Gallery, Cornwall-On-Hudson, New York
2013
Alaina Enslen: New Work, Hudson Street Cafe, Cornwall-On-Hudson, New York
2012
December Art Show, Brazilian Endowment for the Arts, NYC
2010
26th Annual Elmore County Art Guild Winter Show, Wetumpka, Alabama (First Place in Photography and Purchase Award for First Community Bank)
2008
Landscapes in Transitions, Aurum Studios, Athens, Georgia
Full House, Lyndon House Art Center, Athens, Georgia