Two Artists, One Medium, a Coast-to-Coast Dialogue.

Elise Wagner (West Coast) and Marybeth Rothman (East Coast) come together at Frederick Holmes & Company Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Familiar Elements: Visible and Invisible, a two-person exhibition exploring the dualities of abstraction and representation through the luminous possibilities of the ancient medium of encaustic—pigmented beeswax. Their work creates a dialogue that transcends individual styles, inviting viewers to consider the nuances of visibility and invisibility in art and life. Both artists have been represented by the gallery for over a decade.

Wagner unveils Invisible Frequencies, a series that delves into the realms of the intangible, capturing fleeting moments and emotions through rich textures and layered colors. Her abstract pieces invite viewers to engage with the unseen, evoking a sense of mystery and introspection. 

From the window of my studio on the Columbia River, I’ve been watching this one buoy along with the movement of water, vessels, sea lions and birds. These floating markers —small, bright points bobbing in the vast river, have become a presence in my work as I seek balance amid the currents of constant change. 

Over the past five years, buoyancy has become more than a metaphor; it has become a way of moving through life. Not long after I lost my father in 2021, I entered a period of profound transition. I upended my 38-year life in Portland and made a bold and ambitious move to Astoria with someone I trusted as a friend and collaborator. Together, two independent, self-sufficient women, we imagined an unconventional new beginning rooted in chosen family friendship. We moved into a beautiful home while I established a studio perched over the Columbia River.

What followed was a succession of losses and upheavals. When that relationship abruptly unraveled under difficult circumstances, so did much of what I thought I was building. I found myself struggling to regain my footing amid the chaos. Then, within six months of one another, I lost both my mother and then my sister. Each time I began to feel that I was finding solid ground again, the ground seemed to shift beneath me.

But these last five years have also brought extraordinary joy. I found love in the eye of the storm, became engaged, and now I’m standing on the threshold of marriage and my 60th birthday. I have somehow been able to straddle all the grief and joy, upheaval and stability, to exist alongside one another. Finding Buoyancy grew from living within these opposing forces and from the question of how we remain open to life and keep going when the currents beneath us are in constant motion. 

Finding Buoyancy explores the tension between weight and weightlessness, surface and depth, movement and stillness. Through encaustic painting and wax collagraph printmaking, I build layered surfaces that reflect shifting currents, geological formations, atmospheric patterns, and the passage of time. 

My process itself has always been an alchemic act of discovery. Wax is so maleable; it can be carved, brushed, embedded, scraped, printed, and transformed. Layers accumulate and obscure to reveal traces of what came before. I am most interested in the interplay between control and chance, how a surface can hold both evidence of human gesture and the unpredictable forces of nature. 

Throughout the work, runes, astronomical symbols, fixed stars, and symbols of buoyancy reveal moments of stillness and discovery. They are markers of strength, awakening, faith, transformation, and direction, steady reference points of orientation bobbing on an ever-shifting sea. 

For me, finding buoyancy means being present and open to change while seeking balance and direction. These works are not maps toward a fixed destination, but records of grappling with uncertainty, carrying the weight of experience while staying open to the organic beauty of love, transformation, and beginning again.

Science and technology have made it so that we can see the world and beyond from entirely new perspectives. As a visual artist, this is the greatest platform from which to observe, interpret and respond to our world. My work marks time from keen observations and the constant tracking of technological progress, climate change and the rapid advancement of scientific discovery.

The works in Marking Time reflect the speed in which progress is being made in our contemporary world while taking a pause to notice the evident impact that humans have on our ever changing environment. This paradox from the fusing of two age old and analog mediums; printmaking and encaustic in these works comes together to mark our present time while also harkening to nostalgia for the past.

Becoming a Printmaker Through Wax

I became a printmaker through curiosity and experimentation with wax. As an encaustic painter, I began wondering what would happen if, instead of simply painting with wax, I could print from its surface. I started building collagraph plates with wax—carving, incising, stamping, embedding, and creating textures—and discovered that these surfaces could hold and transfer an extraordinary range of marks.

That discovery opened an entirely new direction in my studio practice. Using soy- and honey-based Akua inks, I developed ways of inking and printing these wax collagraph plates, bringing together two processes I love: painting and printmaking. The wax became more than a painting medium; it became a matrix from which an image could be pulled, repeated, altered, layered, and pushed in unexpected directions.

Over time, I refined the process and began hand-formulating my own Print Wax, designed specifically for creating wax collagraph plates. What began as a personal studio experiment has grown into a process I now teach internationally. Print Wax is sold online and internationally, allowing other artists and printmakers to explore the possibilities of printing from wax and to take the process in directions I could never have imagined.

For me, becoming a printmaker didn’t happen by following a traditional path. It happened through invention—by asking what else wax could do, and then following that question wherever it led.

Tipping Points showcases the artistic perspective on the science of our changing planet, and convergence of opposites both in nature and in humanity. This exhibition brings together works that span the pandemic and prior. Its title "Tipping Points" serves as a metaphor referring to the many changes taking place in technology, science, human identity and our changing relationships .

Each piece in this exhibition represent years in which significant tipping points were being reached through new discoveries in technology, drone and satellite  photography, climate change and contemporary science. Such advancements gave us the ability to see glaciers on Pluto which was the inspiration for both my Opposing Cartography and Pluto Atlas Series.  

Equally, Tipping Points refers to the cultural tipping points being reached in our midst. Tipping points in civil rights, freedoms, racial justice, identity, loss and conflict. 

On a personal note, this exhibition represents tipping points in my own life through the loss of my father, my beloved dog Cleo and several friends. The exhibition is dedicated to my father Charlie Wagner.

 "Wonder Lands" serves as my love letter to the Pacific Wonderland that has shaped my artistic journey for decades. Through vibrant colors and intricate details, I hope to give a glimpse of the vivid beauty and natural marvels that grace Oregon's diverse geologies and landscapes—a place I am blessed to call home. Astoria, with its many vantage points, horizon lines and colors on display every day, is my eternal source of inspiration. 
 
Each piece began with a textured foundation, as echoes of nature's many forms. Through an air-trapping technique that captures, in a moment, the fleeting textures of molten wax, I am able to mimic the topographic contours of mountain peaks, winding rivers, rugged coastlines, and the ephemeral dance of clouds and light. The added interplay of oil paint over the luminescent layers of wax reveals depth upon depth. By coaxing out what I see within each of these unique surfaces and accentuating those aspects, hidden canyons, soaring cliffs, and the eternal presence of water are revealed. 
 
Creating these pieces was a meditative experience, where I immersed myself in the creative process and worked on multiple artworks simultaneously. Landscapes within landscapes, the process of making "Wonder Lands" drew me closer to the heart of nature and the beauty all around us.
 
My ultimate desire is for you to wander these intricate environments, to see the natural world around us and feel the wonder each creates within you.