Josie Rodriguez

Encaustic has been Josie's medium of choice for over 20 years where she has been a practicing artist and teacher from her  home studio in San Diego and other venues throughout the United States. Just as the heat transforms the beeswax into a molten state used in encaustic, so too may be the transformative element between artist and viewer. Bees offer the most beautiful example of community, communication and cooperation.  She says that she learned very early in her life as an artist to take this medium as far as she could through research, continued learning, experimentation and practice. Her  two and three dimensional work have been shown in airports, museums, restaurants, hospitals, galleries and private homes.  Josie learned her craft  in San Francisco, CA,  Cortona Italy and Malaga Spain. Originally from  San Diego she  received her bachelor's degree from San Diego State University and master's degree from the University of San Diego. Before working full-time as an artist Josie worked as a clinical pastoral counselor at Scripps Mercy Hospital and San Diego Hospice in collaboration with  doctors and nurses, residents and students. 

In the Blink of an Eye, the name of this encaustic series was created in response to an eye trauma that I had 2 years ago. I thought that my life as an artist and the enjoyment of seeing our grandchildren was over. I fell and hit my right eye on the corner of a table knocking out the pupil and damaging the lens. The lens used for focus and pupil letting light in.  The next year was spent having surgery, being examined weekly by several specialists and using a variety of drops every 4 hours.  I was unable to see out of the injured eye for a long time but seeing out of my left eye gave me the courage to continue on with a commission I had started months before. An experience I had while waiting to be examined by one of my doctors was both beautiful and amazing to me. My eyes were closed and I saw squiggly lines, dots, images like stars and circles and areas of the color red.  But what amazed me the most were images of falling flowers. It was as if I was in a dream and somehow I knew I would be ok even tho the  doctors didn't give me much hope for seeing out of that eye again without extensive surgery. They would hold up five  fingers and ask if I could see them. No!  I couldn't!  until one morning after almost a 8 months I could  not only see my  five fingers on my hand but the many trees that surrounded our backyard.  During that entire time of blurry sight  and without much peripheral vision I continued to paint. It was therapeutic, healing, creative and gave me purpose. The first piece, In the Blink of an Eye was painted with my understanding of what came before the injury. The second piece, What I saw in the Dark showed images during that wait for the doctor, and the third piece, Peripheral Vision was created with my sight as it healed. Encaustic wax and pigment,  pen and ink, pan pastels, newsprint, collage all on birchwood panels. 

CA

USA