Caryl St. Ama, will demonstrate Encaustic at the Nov. 21 meeting of the Santa Clarita Artists Association. The event is free, open to the public and meets at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 23630 Valencia Blvd.

St. Ama’s interest developed from installation to painting as she discovered Encaustic; an ancient medium using pigmented bee’s wax fused with heat. The luminosity and flexibility of the wax proved to be the inspiration she needed to continue her work focusing on the effects of the both man-made and natural disasters in our gulfs, oceans and waterways. One of her early works from this series, “Spill Series; Feathers Adrift”, was published in the book, Embracing Encaustic, Mixed Media by Linda Robertson.

St. Ama is a full-time tenured professor at Glendale Community College in Studio Arts where she has worked for the past 26 years. Her work focused on installations in the environment – outside of the confines of her studio.  She was involved in the Arroyo Arts Collective and DADA; Downtown Arts Development Association that curated artists to work in non-traditional areas like the LA River, the old site of the Los Angeles Zoo and the abandoned Lincoln Heights Jail.

St. Ama regularly attends and conducts encaustic workshops around the United States. She will present at the IEA Encaustic Retreat held this fall in Santa Fe, NM. She continues to explore many new aspects of the encaustic medium as it relates to her favorite subject matter, the delicate balance the cycle of life is.

St. Ama was born and raised in Texas on the Gulf Coast between Houston and Galveston. She received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Texas State University in San Marcos and her Master’s of Fine Arts at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.

Come early, standing room only by 6:30. See www.SantaClaritaArtists.org.