Lyn Belisle
Lyn Belisle
Earthenware, assemblage, beeswax, photography and fiber are just some of the ingredients in Lyn Belisle’s collage of life. Trained as a studio artist at Trinity University, Lyn’s path took her into art education for at-risk teenagers for 35 years. During that time, she established a reputation as an outstanding teacher (she was a finalist of Texas State Teacher of the Year in 2000) and as a Fine Art Collagist with her large-scale origami kimonos and her acrylic paintings on paper which were exhibited nation-wide.
She retired from public school in 2003 to join the Computer Science faculty at Trinity University and taught Information Technology for twelve years, sneaking in art and design at every opportunity. In 2013, she established Lyn Belisle Studio in San Antonio where she designed and taught workshops on such topics as Indigo and Rust dyeing, Wax and Tissue Collage, Wax and Collage, Book Construction, Altered Photography Transfers on Fiber, Abstract Painting for Beginners, and Found Object Assemblage.
Lyn is the Vice President of the Board of the International Encaustics Artists, and has taught encaustic mixed-media workshops nationwide in Taos, Santa Fe, Provincetown, Morro Bay, Boston, Washington State, and other venues. She is the author of five popular eBooks and has written articles for Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine. Her work can be found in the Museum of Encaustic Art in Santa Fe and in the San Antonio Art League & Museum. Creativity runs in the family. She is the mother of bestselling author Rick Riordan, her favorite artistic creation.
—
You can view Lyn’s work at:
Class Details
The Diaphanous Vessel: Exploring Plaster, Fiber, and Paper
As objects made for human interaction and handling, both containing and bounded by space, vessels can take many forms and be constructed of a wide variety of materials. Vessels have been used through the ages as containers of sustenance, divination tools, and as decorative pieces. This mixed-media fiber art vessel workshop includes components such as gauze and plaster bandages, cheesecloth, hydrosoluable fiber, walnut ink, found objects, wire, beeswax and encaustic medium. An art vessel of this kind may symbolize the fragility of life, the passage of time, and the impermanence of existence.
Participants will create at least one mixed-media vessel that can be displayed on a flat surface of hung on a wall as a 3D object. It may begin with layers of plaster gauze and reinforced cheesecloth with mulberry paper and may include patches, stitches, and found objects. Paper is a delicate and ephemeral material. Layering with wax allows for more complex and intricate designs. You can create patterns, textures, and relief work by strategically combining layers of paper and fibers. This not only adds visual appeal but can also reinforce certain areas for structural strength. Making a vessel is a way of pouring what’s in your mind out into the light.