I live and work in Fairbanks, Alaska, surrounded by boreal forests, braided rivers, mountain ranges, wildlife and, in the summers, my flower garden. I use encaustic paint, a combination of refined beeswax, damar tree resin and pigment, as well as collage and pastels on wood to create layered compositions of color, pattern and geometry. Elements of the local environment combined with decorative imagery from textiles, embroidery, wallpaper and quilt designs inspire the subject matter of my work and inform the process I use to create it. I embrace forms that are traditionally considered feminine, domestic, ornamental or craft-based. My influences include the Pattern and Decoration movement as well as Bonnard and Matisse. 

Encaustic paint, a combination of refined beeswax, damar tree resin and pigment,  lends itself well to my process of layering transparent colors and stenciling patterned shapes. I create richly textured “pieces” of paintings  on small wood panels by building up and scraping away multiple layers to reveal unexpected color combinations, marks and visual effects. When I have accumulated several different painted pieces of various sizes and shapes, I arrange them together in larger squares or rectangles, moving them around until I find  a composition that feels right. Finally, I adhere the pieces to a wooden panel, creating a “quilt” of contrasting colors, shapes and imagery, breaking up the composition in unexpected ways. 

Artist Bio

Hornig received a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of California at Davis in 1981, attended the San Francisco Art Institute in 1982, and received an M.F.A in Painting from the University of Washington in 1985. Since 2001, her work has been widely exhibited throughout Alaska in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the Alaska State Museum and the Alaska Museum of History and Art. Hornig was awarded an Individual Artist Grant from the Rasmuson Foundation, and Career Opportunity Grants from the Alaska State Council on the Arts. Her work can be found in many private collections as well as the Alaska State Museum and the Alaska Contemporary Art Bank.