Cheers to a Wonderful 2024 and Exciting Adventures Ahead in 2025!
Season’s Greetings to you this New Year’s Day. I hope you are anticipating with optimism a prosperous and productive year ahead.
My 2024 included fully settling into my new life and continuing to create amidst cultural, environmental and political unrest. The word that seemed to reflect all of this for me in 2024 became “liminal”. 2024 was the year in between becoming; the fantasies and delusions of 2023 evaporated and transformed into what is real and actually happening. It felt like a certain new threshold was reached, all distraction fell away as I inched ever closer into fully becoming and realizing all that Ren and I envisioned when we came to Astoria. I have made some very good friends and connections with the creative community here. Many of us are contemporaries and Portland transplants who arrived here in the past five to ten years and there is definitely something brewing. There is a new energy developing here that invigorates and excites me.
Gratitude for 2024
The year brought so many professional and personal achievements. Further solidifying my business partnership and friendship with Ren, truly feeling the joy of settling into our new-old 1896-built home, choosing colors and being in radical agreement on all aesthetic decisions felt like playing house with my BFF—only we're all grown up! I learned to trust, to accept, and to truly understand what it is to feel deserving and worthy of this life I have been given. This took letting go of certain habits, people, and mindsets in order to be the very best version of myself. I continued my commitment to my health and wellness through meditation, yoga, and running 5K every other day. January began, as it has for the past several years, with my retreat in Mexico and a visit to see my mom, sister, and favorite galleries and museums in Houston—my second hometown.
Upon returning home to Astoria, I launched into creating twenty new pieces for my June exhibition “Wonder Lands” at Imogen Gallery which included such an exciting opening night with all of my new friends here. My show was accompanied by a wonderful profile in Oregon Arts Watch, then another opening on the other end of the Summer in August at the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita. Simultaneous to the Manzanita show was the installation of five different reproductions of my work now displayed in over 40 oceanfront rooms at the SurfSand Resort in Cannon Beach with an accompnaying publication. I also participated in Astoria Open Studios.
This very active year closed with a being selected for the “Bodies of Water” show at 33 ContemporaryGallery in Palm Beach Florida where I was interviewed on the ArtPlacer blog and awarded a one year subscription to the ArtPlaceer App, a very useful productivity and presentation tool that Ren and I will be getting a lot of use out of to reach our goals in 2025. We also conducted our second successful Collector Match. I was invited to submit works in the 2024 Milk Central Holiday Gift show at Portland Arts Collective where all three pieces sold. I also created a new series of ten small works “Liminal Passages” for my online shop for the holidays, there are still five left! As a part of my wellness plan, anticipating a lot coming to fruition in 2025, , I invested in a few coaching sessions to help with some mindset issues I was having in the studio and to give me the skills on how best to approach the multitude of exciting things that I will be accomplishing in 2025. This kind of investment in yourself is very worth it no matter what stage of life you are in.
Thank you to all of my dear friends for your love and support riding on this wild and exciting art journey of mine. Thanks also to my loyal collectors, patrons, my family and art community peers. I simply couldn’t do any of this without your ability to relate to me and your encouraging words.
So, now…drumroll please…grab yourself another cup of coffee and strap in as I review the many exciting things coming up in 2025.
Pier 11 Studio a double rainbow over our space on lease signing day! Photo: Ren Allen
Big News for 2025: Announcing Pier 11 Studio
Our Pier 11 Studio logo—visit the website at pier11sstudio.com
TODAY, we announce Pier 11 Studio. Part of the long process of building a new studio on a historic residential property in Astoria involves emptying the garage and with it, a whole lot of disruption. At first, I was thinking I just needed a storage space but the reality was, I needed a studio to work in towards my May show in Seattle. We began looking for commercial spaces but none quite fit, until we saw Suite A at Pier 11 in Astoria. The over 1,000 square foot waterfront space will temporarily serve as a studio and teaching facility.
Pier 11 Studio offers a variety of classes and experiences designed for adults of all skill levels with local and visiting artists. Whether you're an art-curious beginner or a seasoned professional, you'll find a welcoming environment where you can explore the vibrant world of colors, shapes, and techniques.
At Pier 11 Studio, we believe that art is for everyone. Our experienced instructors are here to guide you on your creative journey, providing personalized support and encouragement every step of the way. Join us to unleash your imagination, connect with fellow art enthusiasts, and discover the joy of printmaking in a waterfront space that inspires creativity and collaboration. We can't wait to see what you'll create!
We are so thrilled and excited for Pier 11 Studio to bring together the creative community and further invigorate the new and exciting energy developing in Astoria.
I will be working away at Pier 11 Studio towards my May show in Seattle at Frederick Holmes & Company along with my sweetheart when he visits, the talented Gabe Fernandez who is also preparing for his first major show at Patricia Rovzar Gallery also in Seattle. Ren will begin offering classes in late January.
Sea lion at play outside Pier 11 Studio in Astoria, OR.
Starry Night at the Museum
Upon my return in June, I will be teaching a workshop at Maryhill Museum located in the Columbia Gorge. Art in the Cosmos: Gel Plate Printing Experience. should be amazing in such a n inspiring place. Each year, the museum hosts an overnight of stargazing on their beautiful grounds.
London Calling
I will be teaching for the first time in London! The day after my show opens in Seattle, I am traveling to London with Ren, and our host Karl and will be based in the Marylebone neighborhood and traveling in Europe for five weeks. I was invited to teach on May 17, a one-day encaustic collagraph printmaking workshop at Artichoke Print Workshop in Brixton, London. During the pandemic, I had many students in the UK that I met online, so I am very excited to get to meet some of the artists there in person. We will also be there during the 25 year celebration of the Tate Modern which will feature the paintings of Mark Rothko and sculptures of Louise Bourgeois. I have always wanted to go to London and the UK and will be spending time over the next few months making plans. If you know of any must cultural experiences or eats, please get in touch!
Launching Collagraph Wax
In 2004 I developed a formula for a white encaustic paint to use for collagraph printmaking. In printmaking, a collagraph refers to a collaged printing plate using fibers, cardboard, string and other textured objects to ink and print onto paper. I created a white wax so that you can see it using plexiglas as the plate, replacing the collage element with my white collagraph wax. I have been hand making Wagner Encaustic Collagraph White in my studio for nearly twenty years for use in my classes and selling it to my students. The collagraph white is made with a balance of wax to resin to pigment that is slightly more fluid and sets up harder allowing it to release easily from the paper while printing. Printmakers who have traditionally used clear wax on copper etching plates to create textured collagraphs will now have access to a white encaustic wax that marries perfectly with Speedball’s Akua soy and honey based inks.
In order to bring any art painting material to market and distribution requires something called an ACMI (The Art and Creative Materials Institute) safety seal. You will see this on every tube of paint you purchase. The ACMI “seeks to promote safety in art and creative products and its certification program works to protect students, artists and creatives of all kinds pursuing their passion.” This necessary safety and toxicology testing is required to ensure the utmost safety of my customers. Among the many things that my studio manager Ren does for me, this is a project she has been managing for many months and we are happy to announce that the collagraph wax testing is nearly complete and we are on our way to rebranding to soon officially launch Collagraph Wax as a product making it available in art supply stores. I believe having it more readily available will satisfy a niche in the printmaking materials market and help printmakers diversify their work, making it more painterly and easy to integrate with other mediums.
Hand poured Collagraph Printmaking Wax—yes!
With our local host, my friend, Hugo Anaya, artist, chef and proprietor of Alma-del-Sol in Guanajuato, Mexico.
Annual Art Retreat in Guanajuato, Mexico 2026
Since 2017, this time of year has always meant packing up for my printmaking retreat and head for the sunshine of Mexico. The retreat came about by ringing a doorbell at the Alma del Sol Inn and introducing myself to Hugo Anaya on the recommendation of a mutual friend. In reflection now, over 50 students have come to the retreat since then and Hugo and I have formed a wonderful partnership that fosters creativity. Each time it has been a fun and engaging group of people from all walks of life meeting up to create and enjoy delicious food and libations in the sunshine to start the New Year right! I look forward to greeting eight more participants tomorrow. This year, we are adding Gelli plate printing to our class agenda and I’m looking forward to a week packed with learning! I am thinking of doing a ten year reunion in 2027 offering past participants another memorable experience with me and Hugo in Mexico, stay tuned!
Personal Note
Something happened for me this past November. I didn’t get depressed, I got busy. I welcomed the change of season and the Northwest rains like they were annointing and cleansing me in warmth and gratitude for being alive. I felt a new and urgent surge of creative energy and determination, as if my life depended on it. I fell in love. We live in a culture in which creativity is banished and discouraged. We go on in our lives for decades to come, going through the predictable stations of life, remaining in jobs and careers that kill our souls and steal our good health. I am a big believer and proponent of the power of creativity. How you can recover through creativity is something I have had direct experience with and if you look around, many people are now turning to doing something creative to soothe their minds and connect more with thier inner selves in this troubled world. If you are someone who’s fire was extinguished for whatever reason is now in the past, now is the time! It is never too late to get off the sofa and explore that part of yourself that wants to live and thrive. All sentient beings are creative in one way or another, this is my belief. As I mentioned earlier, the word for 2024 was liminal, on the threshold of something big. My word for 2025 is, actualize.
My Wish to you in the New Year
For this, the first day of your 2025, may you find your calling of expression from your heart with something purely your own, your story. Something, that no one can take away from you. This is not to be confused with narcissism, this is self care, something we all need now more than ever before. In 2025, may you be at peace and may you be freed of negative mindsets and may the world be your oyster. Be true to yourself. That is my wish for you.
I have such gratitude for my friends, family, supporters and collectors. Even more, I have gratitude for my work, my writing, the work I have done on myself and for art. When there’s been nothing for me, art has been there, when my heart has been broken, art has been there, when there has been abundance and joy, art has been there. It will get you through. This is why I always say, “art is my other man”.
Genesis II, found a new home in Boise, ID through my Collector Match event. Thank you!
Please stay tuned for updates on the studio build, Pier 11 Studio, my upcoming travels to London and the UK and other projects. I am so looking forward to 2025, it is starting out strong!
Me and my sweetheart, Gabe.
Don’t forget to follow along on my adventures for real-time updates from the retreat, London, Pier 11 Studio and beyond.
Instagram: @elisewagnerstudio and Note: @elisewagnerworkshops is now @pier11studio
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