Janice Rhodes is an encaustic artist that embraces the unpredictability of this medium in beeswax. Each art piece is an adventure that combines basic design elements and intuition. Encaustics is an ancient art that combines melted beeswax, damar resin, and pigments. The application of layers of heated beeswax has been practiced the same way for several centuries on ships, funeral masks, wood boards....any absorbent material actually.

  My passion for art started when I was young. At the age of 12, I won an award at a county fair in Wisconsin for my wood print. At that age the award meant the world to me, and became a defining moment. If you were in my studio, you would see the wood print and award hanging on the wall. I knew I would always be involved in art in some way.

About the artist:

  I had a 30 year career in interior design, and during that time I attended classes at the Oakland College of Arts and Craft (now part of the SF College of Arts and Craft). In 2003 I moved to Bend, OR, and started taking classes locally, then in Portland, Ashland, Gig Harbor, Berkeley, Santa Fe, and more recently San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. While I was in a class in Bend, I was asked to do a large mural for the acclaimed High Desert Museum in celebration of the U.S. Forest Service centennial exhibit. I was also juried into the Mirror Pond Gallery in Bend, and won two recognition awards. One of my pastels was acquired by the City of Redmond for permanent exhibit at the Redmond Airport. Later, another pastel won Best of Show at the same venue.

  I still love pastel work, but for the last several years most of my work has been in encaustics. I break my focus on encaustics once a week attending figure drawing classes. Figures often are the subject of my encaustic works.

  When the Red Chair Gallery opened in Bend in 2010, I was one of the original juried members. In addition, I am a member of the High Desert Art League since 2012.