SYNERGY | Sandy Middleton

S Y N E R G Y
Sandy Middleton

This current body of paper & encaustic sculptural work has come from solitary time and forced isolation, managing the chaos of the external by carefully dissecting time into small manageable moments – perfect little pieces fluttering, layering, then fused together, still weightless and ethereal.  My work continues to unfold in layers comprised of both layers of meaning and actual layers of materials.

Photography has always been a crucial component of my life, but when I discovered the encaustic medium I felt at home. I love the overall process and see it as a metaphor for life itself. A painting evolves through the accumulation of countless layers of the hot, melted, encaustic medium.

I think of how this cumulative process of layering and fusing layers resembles the collection of life experiences. Each layer presents options, possibilities and choices. The image, while important, is deconstructed to allow for a subliminal connection with the viewer.

Primarily I have been a photographer, but I have immersed myself into previously undiscovered realms of expression using media new to me. Shape, line, layers, and textures are all familiar within my previous works, yet are now approached in a fresh way in order to break from the expected. The past years that have been so difficult because of the changes in our environments seemed a fitting time to challenge norms and expectations in one’s art practice.