EXHIBITION ARCHIVE
Summer
June 28 - August 23, 2025
Summer brings together the work of Peg Bachenheimer, Kathryn DeMarco, Paul Hrusovsky and Judy Keene, four of Craven Allen Gallery’s most popular artists. Working in a variety of mediums, including oil paint, collage and encaustic, they create pieces that range from complete abstraction to representational and figurative. Each artist pays special attention to the interactions of color and texture in their pieces, manipulating these elements in their own ways.
Peg Bachenheimer is best known for her work in encaustic but has recently turned her attention to acrylic paint. The years of work with hot and cold wax are evident in these new paintings, with dynamic forms rendered through layers of applied and subtracted paint. Each piece emerges from a memory, whether that is a place she has visited, a piece of music she has heard, or an experience in nature.
STATEMENT
I paint intuitively, starting with an idea of colors I want to use and a feeling. Then a memory seems to emerge and become part of the process of building layers of color and texture. This memory is based in places I’ve been, music I’ve heard or experiences I’ve had, especially in nature. Finding colors, textures, shapes and lines that create a harmonious world leads me as I work. Sometimes my work is abstract and sometimes landscape based.
I work in a variety of media at different times. Lately I have been exploring acrylic paint with various drawing and collage materials and find it allows me to paint more freely. I also find oil paint mixed with cold wax medium as well as encaustic, pigmented hot wax interesting to work with. All my work involves building up layers and subtracting from them until the painting feels complete.
I want my paintings to convey a rich, vibrantly colored, visual and tactile experience connected to feelings evoked by the mystery and beauty of life and the passage of time. My process involves discovery: I don’t know all of what will emerge as I paint, and so I see painting as an act of faith and a way to connect with people and express hope for moving toward a peaceful, safe and healthy world for all people.
New Paintings
September 19 - October 31, 2020
Paul Hrusovsky, Peg Bachenheimer, and Ronan Peterson combine elements of nature with pure abstraction for their new show at Craven Allen Gallery. The gallery is open for viewing with social distancing measures in place, and the works will able to view on the gallery’s website, cravenallengallery.com.
Peg Bachenheimer creates landscapes and abstract paintings using the time-honored —and challenging—techniques of oil with cold wax, and encaustic hot wax. “This ancient and durable medium has a mystery, luminosity and organic quality that give the final pieces a spiritual feeling. My process involves discovery; not knowing all that will emerge is an act of faith.” Bachenheimer hales from a family steeped in the art and museum world; she brings a discerning eye to her work which has found a wide audience.
STATEMENT
My paintings start with random marks, colors and whatever I am feeling or thinking about that day. The painting develops from there as I add many layers of color and texture, sometimes removing paint, setting the painting aside and coming back to add more layers of color. I work on the painting until it feels complete, balanced and expresses a mood or feeling. I find that oil and cold wax, encaustic hot wax as well as acrylic-mixed media allow me to explore this process in different ways. I hope my paintings connect with that luminous space inside all of us.
This series of encaustic paintings at Craven Allen Gallery is influenced by recent reading, encouraged by a friend, about quantum physics which I didn’t really understand but which gave me a greater sense of the amazing energy of the universe. At the same time, the COVID-19 experience of staying home and having more time to paint, walk, think, read and notice the natural world has influenced my painting in many ways. Many of these paintings were created during my period of isolation. I found the process of encaustic painting was comforting and a good way to keep calm: the smell of hot beeswax, the beauty of the colors, and the torch flame which fuses each layer. Some of the pieces also have shellac burn which is exciting and a bit scary when you light the shellac on top of the last layer of wax and it burns into patterns.
Layered
July 1 - September 8, 2018
For “Layered”, Peg Bachenheimer creates landscapes and abstract paintings using the time-honored —and challenging—techniques of oil with cold wax, and encaustic hot wax. “This ancient and durable medium has a mystery, luminosity and organic quality that give the final pieces a spiritual feeling. My process involves discovery; not knowing all that will emerge is an act of faith.” Bachenheimer hales from a family steeped in the art and museum world; she brings a discerning eye to her work which has found a wide audience.
STATEMENT
I want my paintings to convey a rich, vibrantly colored, visual and tactile experience connected to feelings evoked by the mystery and beauty of life and the passage of time. I paint intuitively, starting with color and texture. Then, memory, ideas and emotion emerge and become part of the process of building layers of color and texture into a harmonious whole. Sometimes my work is abstract and sometimes landscape based. I work in both oil and cold wax medium, and encaustic hot wax. Both involve building up many layers and subtracting from them until the painting feels complete. My process involves discovery: not knowing all that will emerge, I see painting as an act of faith.
For the past 12 years, I've been working with encaustic medium in which beeswax, resin, and pigment are heated to 200 degrees and then applied to a wood panel. Each layer of wax is heated with a propane torch or heat gun, fusing it to the previous layer. It's possible to build up many layers of wax, oil paint, paper and other collage materials, and also to scrape back and incise the surface. Colors, shapes, and lines from previous layers reappear when wax is scraped away, so the history of the piece can be rediscovered. The heat applied can cause surprising changes and merging of colors. This ancient and durable medium has a mystery, luminosity and organic quality that give the final pieces a spiritual feeling.
My recent encaustic paintings revisit some of the types of paintings I created in the past. I was interested in going back in time and recreating some subjects and ideas, as well as incorporating some of the skills I have gained over the years.
The Colors of Summer
July 9 - September 17, 2016
In The Colors of Summer, Peg Bachenheimer creates landscapes and abstract encaustic paintings with rich vibrant colors and luscious surface textures to express the free, easy feeling of the season. "I hope my paintings connect with that luminous, mysterious inner space inside all of us. I find that both oil and cold wax, and encaustic hot wax, allow me to explore this process deeply. I divide my time between the two mediums and find they inform each other."
STATEMENT
My paintings start from an idea, a feeling, a color, a song, an experience in nature — anything that touches my heart. I create with many layers of texture and color, building up and scraping back to reveal previous layers. I hope my paintings connect with that luminous, mysterious inner space inside all of us. I find that both oil and cold wax, and encaustic hot wax, allow me to explore this process deeply. I divide my time between the two mediums and find they inform each other.
For this show, The Colors of Summer, I have worked in richly pigmented encaustic and created images in vivid colors. I love summer and have always felt it was a very free and easy time. I especially love bright colors, gardens and beaches. The paintings represent my feelings about summer and its rich, warm, free experience. One part of the process for these paintings was to begin with colorful oil pastel drawing on the white gessoed surface of the wood panel. These drawings are very free and show through in places in the finished paintings.
I am inspired by my early years in the Pacific Northwest, my life in North Carolina with its beaches and mountains, by hiking, gardening, my yoga practice, people and reading. Many roles through the years as daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend inform my work. Being an elementary school teacher for 38 years has influenced my work and helped me appreciate the time I now have to explore painting. I have looked closely at the work of other painters for many years and it has influenced me as much as anything else.