BIO
Giselle Gautreau is a painter who lives and works in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Giselle grew up in New England and has lived in Virginia and California. Giselle has an MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University and received a BFA in Painting from Maine College of Art.
Giselle has received awards for her work, including a Professional Artist Fellowship from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Virginia Commission for the Arts. She was awarded an Achievement in the Arts Award from the National League of American Pen Women. Her work is in public, private and corporate collections in Canada, the United States, Germany and Tokyo. Giselle is currently a resident artist at the McGuffey Art Center in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia.
ABOUT THE WORK
Endlessly influenced by nature and the landscape, my paintings are about exploring the intersection of color and atmosphere along with the emotional impact of what nature inspires.
I paint with numerous layers of oil or encaustic paints, using both opaque and translucent layers to achieve depth, atmosphere and luminosity. I look for both the big impact of a visual moment and also spend a lot of time exploring the magic of subtle color transitions within that moment.
As a former beekeeper and a person who loves spending time in nature, I’m very interested in ecology and protecting our natural spaces. I’m concerned about climate change and the removal of protections around our natural areas that are important for birds and other species.
Some of my paintings address these ecological concerns and some of my work is simply about the beauty of the landscape and how it makes us feel. For me, painting the landscape is a reminder of our connection to it.
ABOUT ENCAUSTIC
Encaustic painting is an ancient technique, dating back to the Greeks. Encaustic is a Greek word meaning “to heat or burn in” (enkaustikos). Informally known as hot wax painting, it is an archival and fascinating medium with a rich history and sophisticated process. Heat is used throughout the process, from melting the beeswax and damar resin to fusing the layers of wax. Encaustic consists of natural beeswax and damar resin (crystallized tree sap). The medium can be used alone for its transparency or adhesive qualities or used pigmented. The medium is melted and applied with a brush or tool. Each layer is then reheated to fuse it to the previous layer.
