LAURA MORIARTY

Laura Moriarty’s uses molten beeswax to create encaustic works on paper that are evocative of geological formations.  On nearly translucent, handmade scrolls, her pieces are often irregular in size, typically long and thin, hung vertically or horizontally, however seen fit.  Working and reworking the molten wax requires slow and often strenuous engagement that is physical in nature.  The process of heating and cooling is symbolic of the same processes that shape the earth, ironically representative of what these compositions emulate.  “Temperature is important and the process of heating and cooling: both as it relates to my studio work and as it applies to our environment.  It is indicative of the way I have come to draw parallels through my work between human time and geological time.” Moriarty adds black sand, metallic pigment, powdered charcoal, and even soot that enrich the layers with evidence of weathering, friction, enfolding, and slippage.