Evelyn Render-Katz

My downtown life, along with my ongoing exploration of encaustic and cold wax techniques in painting resulted in a new body of work. Pigeons, deserted stairwells, ornamented columns, and other architectural details of the historic buildings of downtown Omaha that remain, are my inspiration.

Color, once the focus of my painting, is more subdued. Pops of color still come through

Color is used to create mood, rather than for its own sake.

I used cold wax with graphite and oil paint in a few of these works. Plant forms appear in much the way that weeds grow up through concrete,walls and barriers. In the least expected places, the organic asserts itself.

Three dimensional pieces in this collection reference the birds of downtown. I created sculptures with collage, assemblage and encaustic which suspend and immobilize birds on their man-made perches. Even in their petrified forms, they are symbols of nature, flight and the possibility to escape our earthbound existence. They are also meant to remind us of our inescapable responsibility for living things whose environment we share.