Colleen Ringrose

New Work showing at 621N4Th Gallery in Wilmington, North Carolina

to see more pictures go to the Watermarks Gallery on the left.

   Ringrose derived her new, expressive encaustic series formulaically, following a carefully calculated matrix of poetry, color, and archaic emblems.  A specific haiku written by the 17th-century poet Matsuo Basho inspired the fluid and lively encaustic color scheme of each piece. Ringrose then scanned images of 1936 watermarks from around the world that were once used to authenticate postal stamps. 

   These painterly images were made with intricate designs to discourage forgery, such as wavy, backwards letters, fleurs-de-lis, sea turtle silhouettes, stars, crosses and crowns.  Ringrose blew up these images and transferred them to the colorful wax canvas, giving a hazy appearance to the symbols, like peering through stained glass. 

   Each piece is then given the title of the Basho haiku that influenced it. 

by Justin Lacy, Starnews Blog