New exhibit opens Friday at Cottey

"Daily Iconography" is a new exhibit by Robin VanHoozer opening on Feb. 13 in the P.E.O. Foundation Art Gallery on the Cottey College campus. It will be on display through March 8.

VanHoozer's medium is encaustic painting. Encaustic wax painting dates back to ancient Greek and Egyptian cultures.

The word encaustic means, "burning in," so heat is a necessary element to the painting process. The paint is made with melted beeswax, damar resin, and pigment. Encaustic paint is one of the most beautiful and archival forms of paint.

Encaustic paintings are most often painted on a specially-prepared wooden panel. The basic technique involves applying and fusing the layers of wax with heat. The panel is slightly warmed as the artist is working to allow the layers of paint to fuse. The final "burning in" is done when the painting is complete.

VanHoozer received her M.A. in Studio Art/Painting from the University of Missouri, in Kansas City. Her work was a part of the 2010 Flow and Control National Juried Encaustic Show, in conjunction with the Fourth Annual National Encaustic Conference, in Beverly, Mass. She has attended R&F Handmade Paint workshops, in San Francisco, Calif., and Kingston, N.Y., and the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, N.Y.. Recently VanHoozer's artwork was on display in the office of Sen. Claire McCaskill, in Washington, D.C. Her work has also been featured on the ABC television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

The gallery is located inside the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts, on the northeast corner of Austin and Tower streets, in Nevada. It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and later on the evenings of performances.