HEIDI RUFEH - Encaustic
till June 25th, 2008
Heidi Rufeh was born and spent her childhood in Berlin. In the 1960s when the Berlin Wall was built, she left for the USA where she studied at "Harvard University" in Cambridge, Mass., at "Massachusetts College of Art", at "Art Institute of Boston" and at the "De Cordova Museum School". During this stage she met her husband who came from Iran and decided to live in the USA.
Heidi Rufeh's abstract oils and mono prints were presented in different galleries in Massachusetts, New York City (N.Y.), Denver (Colorado) and in New Hampshire. The theme of her work was nature and human relations. Some works give a graphic interpretation of Persian poems her husband had affectionately collected.
In 1994 they moved over to San Diego on the west coast of the USA. California's sun, sea and expressive vivid colours influenced her work at once. She painted with acrylic to give spontaneity a quick space and at the same time she began to deal with the medium encaustic, which by nature is less spontaneous.
Encaustic is an old painting method, which was developed by the Egyptians and Greeks, approximately 2000 B.C. The name encaustic comes from the Greek language and means,?"to burn or to melt something".
Today one uses a heat gun for this process. A layer of melted, bleached and rendered beeswax is applied on a porous plane - like wood - and burned in with the heat gun. This is subsequently followed by a mixed layer of beeswax and hard resin that is burned in also. The colours are dispersions of dry pigments and the medium. First the desired colour is melted on a heated metallic board, then applied with a brush onto the primed wooden plane and finally burned in.
Through the mixing of beeswax with hard resin one makes sure that the melting process takes place at high temperatures. This process is not a simple one, because a concept can be destroyed within a few minutes by the heat gun. The light is reflected by the different wax layers and the colours get an interior brilliancy. One can create very interesting structures with this medium. It is suitable particularly for collages.
The medium itself has stood the test of time for over 4000 years. Today one can still admire the mummy portraits painted with wax in late antiquity. Jasper Johns brought this process of painting back to life in the 1950s. The technique has improved considerably in the course of time by technical progression. In the art scene interest in encaustic is increasing more and more.
EDUCATION
The Art Institute of Boston, MA
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
De Cordova Museum School. Lincoln, MA
SOLO SHOWS
"Balancing Act" Tantow Galerie; Berlin, Germany
"Inner Explorations" Mixture; San Diego, CA
Dei Mar Art Center "Abstract Explorations", Dei Mar, CA
Heller Engel Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Boston City Hall, MA
Gallery 355, Boston, MA
Columbus Gallery, Denver, Colorado
Columbine Gallery, Aurora, Colorado Gallery on the Green Ltd., Lexington, MA
Boston Visual Artists Union, Boston, MA
Lesley College, Cambridge, MA
Littleton Gallery, Littleton, MA
Onset Bay Gallery, Cape Cod, MA
INVlTED SHOWS
Galerie Saraie, "Begegnungen", 2006, Berlin, Germany
Bakersfield Museum of Art, 2005, Bakersfield, Ca.
"Blue" 2005 Escondido Municipal Gallery, Escondido, Ca.
"2005 Juried Biennial" by Hugh Davies, William D. Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad, Ca.
Mixture, 2005 San Diego, Ca.
Pfundt Galerie, 2005 Berlin, Germany.
Artibus Gallery, 2005 Berlin, Germany.
Hot Wax and Women II", Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, Ca. 2004
"Local Colour", Escondido Municipal Gallery, 2004 juror: Scott Atkinson Chief Curator of San Diego Museum of Art, Escondido, Ca.
"Small Images", Escondido Municipal Gallery, 2004, Escondido, Ca.
"Woman Caucus for the Arts Show", Rosemary Lane Galleria, 2004, Chula Vista, Ca.
"Art Riot", Escondido Municipal Gallery, 2004, Escondido, Ca.
"Figure That", Escondido Municipal Gallery, 2004, Escondido, Ca.
"Members Only", Escondido Municipal Gallery, 2004, Escondido, Ca.
"Women and Hot Wax", 2003, Four Person Group Show,
Kruglak Gallery, MiraCosta College, Oceanside, Ca.
"March Madness", 2003 Mixed-Media Gallery, San Diego, Ca.
2003/46th Annual International Exhibition, Juror: Hugh M. Davies, Director of Museum of Contemporary
Art SD, San Diego
Art Institute, Balboa Park San Diego, CA
Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Art Riot", Juror: Debbie & Larry Kline, Escondido, CA
Southern California Regional Show 2002, San Diego, CA
WCA Impact 2002, Juror: Faith Ringold, Poway Center for the Arts
Museum, California Center for the Arts, "Interface International: Exploring Science, Technology, and Art" Juror: Dr. Don Bacigalupi Director of SD Museum of Art, Escondido, CA
DeI Mar Art Fair, 2nd Prize Abstract Oil Painting 200 I DeI Mar, CA
Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Figure Show", Juror: Mark Eliot, Escondido, CA
Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Dreams and Fantasies", Juror: Ken Miracle, Escondido, CA Gallery 21, "Small Images Show", San Diego, CA
Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Landscape", CA
Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Summation 2001", CA
William D. Cannon Art Gallery, "3M Annual Juried Art Show", Juror: Betti Sue Hertz of the Contemporary Art Museum, Carlsbad CA
Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Small Images", Escondido CA
Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Dreams and Fantasies", CA
DeI Mar Arts Fair, 1st and 2nd Prize for Abstract Oil Painting 2001, Del Mar, CA
Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Looking at You", CA
DeI Mar Art Center, DeI Mar, CA
San Diego Art Institute, CA
Rancho Santa Fe Art Show, Rancho Santa Fe, CA
De Cordova Museum. Lincoln, MA
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, MA
Boston University, Boston, MA
Boston City Hall. Boston, MA
Soho 20, New York City, NY
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
Hancock Towers. Boston, MA
Prudential Center, Boston, MA
Wertheim Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Hera Gallery, Rhode Island
Columbine Gallery Denver Colorado
Art Association of Newport, Newport, Rhode Island
Goethe Institute, Boston, MA
Watson Gallery, Wheaton College, MA
Quadrum Gallery, Newton, MA
Grove Street Gallery, Worcester, MA
The Gallery and Co., Concord, MA
University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA
Office of Cultural Affairs, Sudbury, MA
Gallery World of Art, Newton, MA
Salem State College, Salem, MA
The Gallery and Co., Acton, MA
Concord Art Association, Concord, MA
Limited Editions, Newton Highlands, MA
Littleton Gallery, Littleton, MA
GROUP SHOWS
Scripps Memorial Hospital, "Healing Show", La Jolla. CA
Art Walk 2001 (W.C.A) San Diego, CA
San Diego Center for Moving Arts, "Healing Show", Hillcrest, CA
Sony Art Walk 2000, San Diego, CA
Art Walk, San Diego, CA
Small Works, Art Institute of San Diego, CA
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, Boston, MA
Copley Society of Boston, Boston, MA
Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
Boston City Hall Gallery, Boston, MA
North Eastern University, Boston, MA
Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA
Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, MA
Attleboro State College, Attleboro, MA
Walters Gallery, Regis College, Weston, MA
Salem State College, Salem, MA
Boston Visual Artists Union, Boston, MA
Concourse Gallery, Boston, MA
Bunker Hill College, Boston, MA
Wellesley Art Gallery, Wellesley, MA
Haynes School, Sudbury, MA
Stonehill College, Stonehill, MA
Lexington Arts and Crafts Society, Lexington, MA
Parsons Gallery, Lexington, MA
