Artist Statement
As a multidisciplinary visual artist, I work with water, wax, and wool — more specifically, water-soluble mediums, encaustic painting and printmaking, oil and cold wax, and fiber and textiles. Often, I combine these materials.
Themes I touch on in my work include calmness, stillness, otherness, memory, and dreams. I often work intuitively, with no preconceived plan or sketch. Relying on aspects of play and discovery, I allow the mood and materials to lead the way.
The use of fiber in combination with encaustic has allowed me to explore the interplay of texture, pattern, and color in an organic and dynamic way. By incorporating traditional craft techniques, including crocheting, knitting, and weaving, within contemporary frameworks, I create ethereal and moody, dreamlike pieces.
BIO
Dee Levang is a multidisciplinary visual artist working in fiber, encaustic, oil and cold wax, and water-soluble media. Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, she has made St. Louis her home for the last 22 years. She studied graphic design at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and worked professionally as a graphic designer for over 20 years. Since 2015, she has also been a teaching artist. She has taught classes and workshops in fiber and encaustic both locally and regionally, including at the St. Louis Artists' Guild, St. Louis Community College, the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, and Eureka Springs School of the Arts, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
An alumnus of the Saint Louis Art Fair’s Emerging Artists as Entrepreneurs program, Levang has also participated in local juried art fairs and events including Schlafly's Art Outside, Cherokee Street Print Bazaar, Queeny Park Art Fair, and Wall Ball live painting fundraiser for Artscope.
Levang is a member of the Surface Design Association, the International Encaustic Artists organization, and the St. Louis Artists’ Guild. She has been awarded two Artist Support grants from RAC (Regional Arts Commission) and a scholarship to the International Encaustic Conference, in Provincetown, MA.
What Is Encaustic?
Encaustic medium consists of natural beeswax and damar resin obtained from coniferous and hardwood trees characteristic of Southeast and East Asia. The resin is used as a hardening and stabilizing agent for the wax. Encaustic painting is an ancient technique, dating back to the early Greeks, as far back as the 5th century B.C. The word encaustic which means “burn in,”originates from a Greek word. Heat is used throughout the process, from melting the beeswax and resin to fusing the layers of wax. The medium can be used alone for its transparency or adhesive qualities or used pigmented. The medium is melted and applied to a rigid support, often wood panels. Each layer is then reheated to fuse it to the previous layer.
When creating an encaustic monotype (one of a kind print), solid encaustic medium is applied to a smooth anodized aluminum hot plate, manipulated with natural bristle brushes, silicone spatulas, or other non-abrasive tools. When a design is completed, an absorbent paper is laid atop the hot plate until the image has been transferred to the paper, then carefully removed from the surface.