SHANNON WEBER
My Seduction into Wax
I have been a self educated , working studio artist for 30 years in the field of 3D fiber sculpture . I am known for my extensive use of odd and rarely used materials , 80 % of which are hand gathered . I have been seduced by many other mediums in those years from painting , clay , papermaking and drum making . My love has always been fiber of all kinds . Before settling in with working with fiber I worked in high end floral design . I have an intuitive gift for working with plants and have a natural eye for interesting organic , raw objects of nature , reclaimed or lost .
I first met wax in 2000 in a gallery in San Francisco . I saw these amazing paintings by an artist , whose name I have unfortunately forgotten , and I was struck by the depth and textural effects of his work with wax . The gallery owner took me to the back room and showed me some smaller works and I was hit by the sweet smell . I began asking the owner if he had ever seen anyone use this medium in a 3D format and he said he had not . The seed had been planted and I left a bit weak-kneed . Where can I get some of that medium ?
The first shipped boxes of wax came via R & F in 2002 and the learning curve began . First out of the gate was pushing wax flat , temperatures , and learning to load brushes , fusing layers , and scraping . I settled in on working with a heat gun over a torch mostly because of all the fiber material in my studio . After a few months I felt strong about my skill . Now I wanted to push the envelope . I started embedding plant material , feathers , rocks , dirt , paper and fabric . All was interesting but I was missing the vessel form . So I decided to start putting my woven forms along with stitched rocks , sticks and bones , over the 2D layer of my paintings and then moved to sculpting wax with my fiber forms .