Listen to my podcast interview with Caroline Italia Carlson

I paint because I was raised surrounded by a creative and arty family who always supported my artistic talent and ambition.

I began primarily using encaustics because I was captivated by its ancient history and was challenged by its process of heating and cooling  which captures the  dynamic of chaos and demands control unlike that  of  any other painting medium. 

The process of encaustic demands a  confident hand as well as a hand that can allow the spontaneity of the  flow of the wax.  This balance of discipline and disconformities are  reflected in my work as well as my life.

 My first year of college, I stumbled across the book about ancient funeral portraits that were painted with beeswax  titled “The Mysterious Fayum Portraits: Faces from Ancient Egypt” by Euphrosyne Doxiadis.  I became fascinated by this lost art and have dedicated myself to working with encaustic for the past 16 years. 

In 2004 I received a research grant from UWSP to teach myself how to paint with molten pigmented beeswax. I graduated with a BFA in Studio Art with a painting emphasis in 2006. I didn’t get into graduate school so I began exhibiting at art festivals. 

I am a working artist, an art fair exhibitor, and an encaustic workshop instructor. My art studio, Buzz in Art Studios, is located in Stevens Point, WI.

 I am Council Chair for the Stevens Point Festival of the Arts, and on the steering  committee for the Hidden Studios Art Tour in Central WI.  

Gardening, my mutt Tony, music, beer, hiking, and boating.