Textile Art
for Performances with Encaustic Applications
Assoc. Prof. Margaret C.
Perivoliotis, BA, Dr.
Department of Interior Design, Technological Educational
Institute (TEI), Athens, Greece.
e-mail:
perivoliotis@teiath.gr
Barbara
Toumazatou, educator.
Department of Interior Design, Technological
Educational Institute (TEI), Athens, Greece.
The installation artworks are part of the research
programme of Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens, Greece “ATHENA
2004, Application of the Encaustic to Textiles for Theatrical Performances” and
results of the experimentations of the research team on the application of the
ancient Hellenic art, the encaustic, on textiles. The research question,
addressed by the head of the research programme, was if the encaustic could be
applied on fabrics, a question that has been answered by the here presented
artworks, created for scenery applications to ancient Hellenic drama
performances, and specifically for the ancient tragedy “Media” of Euripides.
Encaustic is a
beeswax-based paint that is kept molten on a heated palette and then is applied
to a surface. It can be polished, modelled, sculpted, textured, and combined
with collage materials. It cools immediately, so that there is no drying time
and it can always be reworked. The durability of encaustic is due to the fact
that beeswax is impervious to moisture. Because of this it will not
deteriorate, it will not yellow, and it will not darken. Encaustic paintings do
not have to be varnished or protected by glass. Encaustic paint has no toxic
fumes, nor does it require the use of solvents. As a result, a number of health
hazards are reduced or eliminated.
Encaustic is an ancient technique of painting with pigments mixed in
wax. The technique was used in Rome, Greece, and other countries around the
Mediterranean littoral. The word encaustic comes from the Greek word “encaustikos”,
meaning, "to burn in" and evidently it is a Hellenic technique. The
encaustic technique is familiar to the Western world from the funerary
portraits found in Fayum, Egypt, of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, painted by
Greek painters of the time. A significant Greek population had settled in Egypt
following its conquest by Alexander the Great, eventually adopting the local
customs. This included mummifying their dead. A portrait of the deceased,
painted either in the prime of life or after death, was placed over the
person's mummy as a memorial. Many of these pieces have survived to our own
time, and their colour has remained as fresh as any recently completed work.
Greek artists practiced the encaustic painting much before the 5th
century BC. Most of our knowledge of this early use comes from the Roman
historian Pliny in the 1st century AD. He refers to encaustic paintings several
hundred years old in the possession of Roman aristocrats of his own time.
According to Pliny, encaustic was used in a variety of applications: the
painting of portraits and scenes of mythology on panels, the colouring of
marble and terra cotta, and work on ivory. Wax is an excellent preservative of
materials. It was from this use that the art of encaustic painting developed.
Hercules was the one credited, by Philostratus the
Elder, with bringing into use the encaustic method of painting a thousand years
BC, but the Greeks new the qualities of beeswax much before the Minoan era. They
used to apply coatings of wax and resin to weatherproof their ships from the 3rd
millennium BC. Pigmenting the wax gave rise to the decorating of warships. Homer
describes the wax painted ships of the Greek warriors who fought at Troy. The
use of a rudimentary encaustic was therefore an ancient practice by the 5th
and 4th centuries BC. In Antiquity,
sculptures were coloured, just like the mosaics and wall paintings. The
white marble we see today in the monuments of Greek Antiquity was once
coloured, probably delicately tinted like the figures on the Alexander
sarcophagus (Archaeological Museum of Istanbul). Famous Greek encaustic artists
had painted many of the well-known status of antiquity. Pliny says that when
the sculptor Praxiteles was asked which of his pieces he favoured, he answered
those "to which - the painter - Nicias - had set his hand." Decorative
terra cotta work on interiors was also painted with encaustic, a practice that
was a forerunner to mosaic trim. Kore statues were thoroughly painted in ancient times in order to
emphasize the life-likeness of the object by applying pigment in order to
distinguish between surfaces (hair, flesh, eyes, cloth), and for ornate
reasons, as was the case with the decorations painted on the garments. Black
was used to create plasticity or illusions. The colour was applied to the
surface of the stone by coloured pigment mixed with wax that was used as a
bonding agent, and the mixture was applied to the sculpture after it was
heated. In the great period of economic
instability that followed the decline of the Roman Empire, encaustic fell into
disuse all around Mediterranean. Some work, particularly the painting of icons,
was carried on as late as the 12th century, but for the most part it became a
lost art. The encaustic process was cumbersome and painstaking, and the cost of
producing it was high.
Can the encaustic be applied on fabrics? Is the question that 20th
century’s availability of portable electric heating implements and variety of
tools has proved as possible. Images on wax-coated cards can easily be
transferred onto fabric. The wax melts and is absorbed into the fabric,
creating a reverse print of the original image. This simple process opened up
all sorts of possibilities on natural fibres that will retain a reasonable
version of the printed wax image and offered support to the present research
work application and conclusions. For the presented here examples of the
research work creations, beeswax with colour pigments was applied on natural
silk, cotton and linen cloths that have been pre-treated with the tie-dye
technique. The works were finished with hand painting. Combination of batik and
encaustic, in layers of natural silk fabric (figure 1), is also part of the
work, since batik is a sister art to the encaustic, implying the use of hot
beeswax and colours. Natural colours, acrylics and beeswax have been all used.
Wax and colour pigments were also used as ‘drawing pens’ for painting and
finishing the work on the heavy cotton and linen fabrics. After the ironing and
wax removing process, the so painted images became clear and resist. These simple
processes have opened new possibilities to the aforementioned research, its
conclusions and textile creations.
The presented here artworks (figures 1, 2, 3, 4) are inspired by
Euripides Tragedy Media and the involved myth. Lines, colours and symbols are
expressing the inner world of Media, presenting her feelings and emotions,
describing the identity of the performance event and Media’s origin from the
Black Sea littoral. The quality of the tragedy - the anger, the jealousy, the
pain, the desire for revenge, are all identified by the bloody-red and black
dominating hard lines and the colours of the costumes, (figure 2). For the
outdoor scenery softer, earthy hues have been used, (figure 3, 4, 5),
presenting the tranquillity of the nature, in total contrast to the feelings,
thoughts and decisions of the bloody queen Media. Scenery made of lightweight
fabrics is ideal for travelling theatre and open-space performances, types of
entertainment that are still part of the Mediterranean culture and not only.
Figure 1. Part of the scenery, made of silk and
cotton, painted with batik and encaustic
Figure 2. Example of the power that colours and lines
have to express feelings and emotions as used for Media’s costumes, created by
batik and encaustic art
Figures 3, 4, 5. Cotton, linen and silk fabrics, parts
of the tragedy’s scenery