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Works on Paper: Digital transfer prints to wax on paper
1. Unnamed, Unnumbered, 2008, digital image transfer, wax, oil, paper,
     32” x 36”
2. Scent of an Angel, 2008, digital image transfer, wax, oil, paper,
      32” x 36”
3. A Strange Peace, 2008, digital image transfer, wax, oil, paper,
      30” x 22-1/2”
4. Locked Like Cogs, 2008, digital image transfer, wax, oil, paper,
      26” x 20”
5. Receiving your qualities, 2008, digital image transfer, wax, oil, paper,
     32-1/2” x 25-1/2”
6. Division, Separation, 2007, digital image transfer, wax, oil, paper,
      30” x 22-1/2”
7. Involved In Union, 2008, digital image transfer, wax, oil, paper,
      30” x 22-1/2”
8. A Palace for Water, 2008, digital image transfer, wax, oil, paper,
      30" x 22-1/2”

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1. Movement Over Time, 2007, digital image transfer to wax, oil, board, 48" x 36"
2. Farsight, 2007, digital image monoprint to wax, oil, board, 36" x 48"
3. Watermark, 2007, digital image monoprint to encaustic, mixed media
     on doorskin, 48" x 58"
4. Shadow Overcoming Memory, 2007, digital monoprint, wax, oil,
     masonite, 32" x 36"
5. Semi Sacred Spot, 2007, monoprint, encaustic on paper, 30" x 22"
6. Skin of Green, 2007, encaustic monoprint on encaustic paint on
     paper, 30" x 22"
7. Emerging Bright, 2007, digital print and encaustic monoprint on wax
     paper, 30" x 22"
8. Bay, 2007, digital print onto encaustic wax, 5-1/4" x 4-1/4"
9. Blue Moon, 2007, digital print onto encaustic wax, board, 6" x 6"
10. Elevation, 2007, encaustic on plaster, 5-1/4" x 3-3/4"
11. Gut Feeling, 2007, encaustic and digital image transfer on plaster, 4" x 5"
12. Number 3, 2007, encaustic on plaster, 3-3/4" x 5"
13. Structure With Insight, 2007, encaustic on plaster, 5-1/4" x 3-3/4"
14. Air Flow, 2006, encaustic, image transfer, board, 4-1/4” x 3-1/2”
15. Remnant of Land, 2006, encaustic, image transfer, board, 7-3/4” x 3-1/2”
16. African Summer, 2006, encaustic, mixed media, board, 4” x 8”
17. Silent, silk, paper, thread, encaustic, 9" x 12"

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Contact Information
1400 N. Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
tel: 215-235-3483
e-mail: michellemarcuse@aol.com
www.michellemarcuse.com
Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Artist Statement
Relying on imagery based on streams of fluids, waves, vibrations, vortices, and elements that define continuously changing forms, these paintings focus upon movement characterizing prototypical forms. I use these elements for their visual interest and dynamic interplay. The images are laminated into the work using a printing process (described below), to be painted upon in layers of encaustic wax paint and oil paint.

To start, I digitally record my image and alter it using Photoshop. It is laser printed directly onto a re-leasable surface such as household wax paper which has been folded around letter size sheets of paper so that it will be accepted by my printer. These prints are then transferred by way of burnishing to the skin of the wax. At this point the images are seamed or registered together in their entirety. Sometimes segments of the paintings themselves are digitally recorded again and reconceived back onto the wax surface within other painting compositions. In this way, each work describes a facet of what I am working on and becomes connected to the whole.

Hot wax congeals very quickly, and I have taken to pouring the beginning layers onto my substrates in order to unify them overall. I work with both formal elements and the intuitive process. My work varies in size; the larger pieces being far more technically challenging while the small paintings encapsulate an intimacy, and provide me with a forum to work out problems or new ideas. Since I generally work with encaustic and oil paint in layers on top of printed material, I consider these works as mixed media paintings on shallow relief surfaces. I find that a range of scales as well as continually refining my process opens me up creatively by depriving me of the comforts of familiarity. It is with curiosity, vision, an open mind and a deep faith in my ability that essentially propels me artistically forward.

Artist Bio
Michelle Marcuse was raised in South Africa during the apartheid era. At the age of 18, she moved to the Middle East for seven years. In 1984, she arrived in Philadelphia to finish a BFA in painting at Tyler School of Art. The diversity of culture, ethnicity, climate and politics that she experienced in her youth continue to influence her work. Currently a resident of Philadelphia, Michelle has shown her work regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Michelle teaches a series of workshops and classes in encaustic techniques.

Education
1985
Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA

1983
Michaelis School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa

1981
The Shenkar College of Fashion & Textile Technology, Tel Aviv, Israel

Awards and Honors
2008
Woodmere Endowment Fund Memorial Prize, 68th Annual Juried Show, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA

2005
The Greater Harrisburg Arts Council First Prize in painting, Harrisburg, PA

1999
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Harrisburg, PA

1997
The Leeway Foundation, Honorable Mention in Fiber Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Residency
2000
Illinois State University, Normal, IL

Lectures and Talks
2008
The Perkins Center for The Arts, Collingswood, NJ

2007
Penn College of Technology, Williamsport, PA

2004
Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA

Professional Experience
Teaching Experience
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Main Line Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
Moore College of Art, Career symposium, Philadelphia, PA
Howard Pyle Studios, Wilmington, DE
Chester Springs Studios, Chester Springs, PA
Jackson State University, Jackson, MS
Visiting Artist, Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, La Jolla,  CA
Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH Irvine Valley College,
Irvine, CA
Illinois State University Visiting Artist Program, Normal, IL
Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA

Art advisory committee, Art in City Hall program, Philadelphia, PA

Bibliography
2007
"Present Tense; David Foss and Michelle Marcuse at Siano Gallery", The Inferno, , Millville NJ, Fall 2007

Fabbri, Anne, "The joy of existence in Old City", Broad Street Review, September 15, 2007

Farrell, Pamela, "Dave Foss & Michelle Marcuse at Gallery Siano", P Farrell Artblog, September 14, 2007

Romaniello, Vincent, "A Grand Finale", Romanblog, August 24, 2007

Rice, Robin, "See ya, Siano", The City Paper, August 21, 2007

2005
Sozanski, Edward, 'Glories of Wax', The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, July 29, 2005

Slupe, Ellen, 'Art of the State Shows Pennsylvania’s Best', Art Matters, Philadelphia, PA, August issue, Pg. 11

'Oil and Wax, Chapter & Verse', The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 2005

2004
Williams Vance, Donna, ‘Hive’ at the Arts League, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia, PA, August 13, 2004

Fallon, Roberta, 'Mood Processor', Philadelphia Weekly, Philadelphia, PA

University City Review, August 2004

Sablove, Ricki, '360 Degrees of Unity', Alternative Central, Harrisburg, PA

Gehman, Geoff, 'Inner Circles' exhibit stretches and burns, The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, February 12, 2004

Lewis, Zachary, 'Art to bring you full circle', The Patriot News,Harrisburg, PA, July 18, 2004

Baver, Kristin, 'Modern art comes full circle', The Keystone , Kutztown, PA

2002
Slupe, Ellen, 'Art of the State in Harrisburg', Art Matters, Philadelphia, PA, August, pg 15

Higgins, Edward, 'Lifestyles, Freedom of expression', Artphile, Philadelphia, PA

Home News (Art Museum Area), April 11th,' Abstract Art in City Hall: Exhibit', Philadelphia, PA

Fallon, Roberta, 'ART', Philadelphia Weekly, Philadelphia, PA, April 10

Publications
2008
New American Paintings, Mid-Atlantic, The Open Studios Press, Juried Exhibition in Print
Juror Jenelle Porterfrom: Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania

Collections
2006
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Philadelphia, PA

2005
Coventry First, Fort Washington, PA

The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

R&F Handmade Paints Inc., Kingston, NY

1999
The Bangkok Collection, Cultural Fiber, United States Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

2007
Present Tense, Gallery Siano, Philadelphia, PA

2005
Hive and Hue, The Gallery at R&F, Kingston, NY

2004
Hive and Hue, University City Arts League, Philadelphia, PA

Group

2008
68th Annual Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Juror Stephen Talasnik

Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition, The Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA
Juror Sueyun Locks

Into Intuituition: Towards a Redefinition, The University Gallery at Salisbury, Salisbury, MD

2007
Pink at Perkins: The Contradictory Character of a Complex Color, Perkins Center for the Arts, NJ

Surface and Beyond: Artists working with the Textural Possibilities of Wax, Ruth Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell,  NJ

Painters in Progress: The Process of Painting, Strata Sphere, Philadelphia, PA

2006
Third Annual Invitational Exhibition, Pfenninger Gallery, Lancaster, PA
Invitational

Oil + Wax, Chapter & Verse, Community Art Center, Beverly Roman Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ           

Remix: Wax and the Intuitive Process, Williamsport College of Technology, Williamsport, PA

The Natural World Unveiled, The Art Gallery at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Wynnewood, PA

Wired Gallery, Bethlehem, PA

2005
Art in City Hall 1984 – 2005, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA

Immense & Intimate, The Phoenixville Art Center, Phoenixville, PA

Art of the State, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

Oil + Wax, Chapter & Verse, Community Art Center, Wallingford, PA

Oil + Wax, Chapter & Verse, Siano Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2004
9 artists, The Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Invitational

Inner Circles, The Sharadin Art Gallery, Kutztown, PA and The Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA
Traveling exhibition

2003
Surface, Matter & Artifice: Contemporary Works by Encaustic Artists, Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, NY

The Future in Wax, Whitaker Center , Harrisburg, PA

Whole Ball of Wax, WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, IL

In Depth, The Main Line Art Center, Philadelphia PA

2002
Art of the State, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA

Bio-Tech, InLiquid at DaVinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
Juried Exhibition

Non-Objective Art, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA

2001
Snyderman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Undercurrent: Manipulation of Form, The Gayle Willson
Gallery, Southampton, NY

Images in Wax: Contemporary Encaustic, The Karl Drerup Art Gallery, Plymouth, NH

Abstract, The Wallingford Art Center, Media, PA

2000
Organic, InLiquid at the The Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA

1998
The 2nd Taegu International Textile Design Competition, Taegu, Korea

The Leeway Foundation Awards for Women in the Arts, The Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA

1997
African Presence - Visual Activism in Philadelphia, African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA

1 Screen, 2 Souls, 4 Hands, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA