Jennifer Terpstra

medium: painting

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Gift of Daedalus 20102 Painting	Scatter 2012 Painting	Pollination 2012 Painting
Nectar Guides 2012 Painting	Inflorescence 2012 Painting	Oculus 2012 Painting
Healing Circle 2012 Painting	Family Matter 2012 Painting	Textured Mandala 2012 Painting
Hidden Talent 2012 Painting

Contact information
Artist resides in: La Crosse, WI
Email Address: jenniferwilliamsterpstra1@gmail.com
Web site: jenniferwilliamsterpstra.com

Artist statement
My work addresses the craft tradition of crochet as domestic adornment, relic and inspiration. I am interested in creating new contexts for crochet work through the medium of encaustic. The paintings acknowledge the needlework practiced by my great-grandmother who, despite becoming sight-impaired late in life, continued to produce remarkable, intricate crochet work. Although the images resemble mandalas, I am interested in creating subtle and not-so-subtle interruptions in their symmetry.

Rather than recreate the stitch itself, I have chosen to document it through drawing, creating a visual language that parallels the stitch. I am engaged in a play between the tangibility of crochet work and the sometimes elusive, mutable qualities of molten wax and drawing media. The use of wax to reveal and conceal drawn elements embodies the struggle between resistance and awareness. This work connects the elemental, sensory qualities of encaustic with content that addresses memory and time.

Encaustic is an ancient medium that can be traced back to Greco-Roman mummy portraits found at the Fayum oasis in Egypt. Contemporary encaustic methods allow for a variety of ways of combining materials and techniques. The medium involves fusing pigment with beeswax and resin, and is typically applied to a rigid support, such as a wood panel.

Biography
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jennifer Williams Terpstra is a painter whose works investigate the ways in which places, objects, and perception affect human imagination and memory. Educated at the Rhode Island School of Design (MFA, 1993) and Indiana University (BFA 1989), she has exhibited in one-person and group shows since 1989. Her work is included in public and private collections throughout the United States. The artist lives and works in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and teaches in the Department of Art at UW-La Crosse.