The works of the eight artists featured in this newest exhibit at the McLean Project for the Arts — Kristy Deetz, Peter Dykhuis, Lorraine Glessner, Cheryl Goldsleger, Reni Gower, Heather Harvey, Jeffrey S. Hirst and Timothy McDowell — are not only connected by their use of the ancient painting method called “encaustic.” Curator Reni Gower chose artists who, in this fast-paced era of multi-tasking and technology, have returned to the slow and “labor intensive work that uses the hand in a ritual act” to create art that “requires time to decipher.” With encaustic, the magic is in the details.

The method of encaustic involves adding pigment to heated beeswax, and applying the resulting pasty liquid to a surface. This allows artists to affix a variety of physical elements under the translucent waxy medium. Philadelphia artist Lorraine Glessner’s twenty-paneled Nexus I – XX (panel three pictured left) conceals hair, grass and translucent ovals, as well as a myriad of pink, white and black raised circles. While some of the hairs form messy, erratic globs, others are more carefully arranged to resemble blueprints. Like much of the other exhibited work, Glessner’s piece is strikingly stunning from a distance. Closer study reveals rawness — burnt edges, grotesque hairs, textures and cell-like forms — creating an orderly chaos reminiscent of microscope slides.

Image of Lorraine Glessner’s Nexus I – XX courtesy of the gallery.