Rebecca Russow
After nearly twenty years of raising a family, teaching art, and working as a school principal, I retired and started a successful wedding and family photography business for nearly ten years. When Covid put an end to that business, I started making art for myself. Exploring mixed media, encaustics and ceramics.
Soon I had too much art for my home. I joined a few art groups and began exhibiting my art in various galleries throughout the Chicago area.
I love spending time with my family and exploring nature in various parts of the county. My happy place is in my studio exploring different techniques and combining my love of mixed media, encaustics and ceramics.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I love experimenting with a variety of materials, striving to create harmony and cohesiveness from diverse components. I find this similar to finding commonalities with people who hold different views. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but we learn from each attempt.
I like a challenge and seldom give up (with art or people!). I attempt to create unity through layering, adding textures, colors, lines, texts or graphic elements. The piece eventually comes together as a whole, and if it doesn't, I follow the advice of a former instructor and know that I'm not finished yet!
My goal is to hold the viewer's attention for a sustained amount of time, allowing them to consider the title of the piece and hopefully make a personal connection to the artwork.
After nearly twenty years of raising a family, teaching art, and working as a school principal, I retired and started a successful wedding and family photography business for nearly ten years. When Covid put an end to that business, I started making art for myself. Exploring mixed media, encaustics and ceramics.
Soon I had too much art for my home. I joined a few art groups and began exhibiting my art in various galleries throughout the Chicago area.
I love spending time with my family and exploring nature in various parts of the county. My happy place is in my studio exploring different techniques and combining my love of mixed media, encaustics and ceramics.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I love experimenting with a variety of materials, striving to create harmony and cohesiveness from diverse components. I find this similar to finding commonalities with people who hold different views. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but we learn from each attempt.
I like a challenge and seldom give up (with art or people!). I attempt to create unity through layering, adding textures, colors, lines, texts or graphic elements. The piece eventually comes together as a whole, and if it doesn't, I follow the advice of a former instructor and know that I'm not finished yet!
My goal is to hold the viewer's attention for a sustained amount of time, allowing them to consider the title of the piece and hopefully make a personal connection to the artwork.
$2,760.00
Collage and paint on canvas.
20x30"
Prelude or what comes before, uses vintage magazine and yearbook photos along with sheet music to create a backdrop for the texts that ask us to examine our beliefs. Framed in a black frame with subtle red highlights.
$1,250.00
Collage (set of 3 - framed).
32.50x13.50"
Professionally framed in brown wood.Rusted paper and cheesecloth were used to create this monochromatic collage. Rusted paper and fabric is made by saturating the paper/fabric with vinegar and salt and letting it dry on a metal plate along with rusted nails.
$1,670.00
Collage and painting on canvas (framed).
18x22"
This piece is framed in a narrow black floater frame.
Vintage magazine photos and altered papers were used in this collage along with crushed eggshells to create an abstract cityscape.
$1,670.00
Collage and painting on canvas (framed).
14x18"
This collage is professionally framed in dark blue wood. Vintage yearbook photos were cut heads which are embedded in the collage. The negative area around the heads was used as a shape and as stencils to create ghost like images. Antique and contemporary texts were cut into strips and used to create a pathway to the past. Lies has a double meaning in this collage. What lies we tell ourselves and others.
$2,090.00
Collage and painting on cradled birch board.
20x20"
This unframed collage was created on a professional quality, reinforced cradled wood panel. Altered and rusted papers were used in this collage that was created on a 1.5" cradled birch board. Vintage magazine pages were used to create the various paper in this collage.
$1,250.00
Collage and painting on canvas (framed).
18x22"
Professionally framed in brown wood frame. Vintage yearbook photos were used in this abstract painting along with rusted and altered papers. Rusted paper is created by saturating the paper with vinegar and salt and letting it dry on a metal plate along with rusted nails.
$1,110.00
Collage and painting on canvas.
24x12"
Professionally framed in a dark green wooden frame. The isolation of covid and the separation of family and friends is represented by the number as well as the brick-like elements in the collage.
$2,090.00
Collage and painting on canvas.
42x32"
Framed in black, this collage uses eco prints and rusted papers. Eco prints are made from leaves that has been bound between sheets of paper and heated to release their colors onto paper. Rusted paper is created by saturating paper with salt and vinegar then letting it dry on a sheet of metal along with rusted nails.
$975.00
Encaustic and mixed media on wood panel.
6x24"
The artist's original photo of rocks was transferred to wax. A batik pen was used for lines and details. This is unframed on a 1.5" cradled wooden panel.
$560.00
Encaustic and mixed media on wood panel.
11x11"
Unframed on cradled wooden board. Melted encaustic wax and pigment lines and dots were added with a batik pen.
$1,670.00
Encaustic and mixed media on cradled board.
18x24"
This unframed artwork was created on a professional quality reinforced cradled birch wood panel. Walking in the woods, I was intrigued with the holes that are created in a tree when a branch dies and the bark begins to form around the hole. These seemed that they could be portals to another place in time. The ceramic pieces were pressed into tree bark to create the texture for the "portals". These shapes were then used to create an abstract floral design. The portals are also representative of vaginas, which also act as a portal for new life into another world.
$420.00
Encaustic and mixed media on wood panel (framed).
7.50x7.50x2"
The artist used original photo of lichen transferred to wax as the base for this artwork. It is framed in a black floater frame. Lines were created using a batik pen.