Illuminations. Flag book with encaustic & handmade cotton paper laminates. © Haley Nagy.

As an artist, I am very interested in the concealed and disguised elements of our culture. These are the things that are “seen but not heard” or that “go on behind closed doors”. This fascination with the “hidden” has manifested itself in a variety of ways within my work. As a natural progression from these broader concepts, my art often delves into issues of censorship and secrets and conversely – the process of discovery.

In my recent body of work I am exploring the concept of the hidden in an abstract manner by embedding encaustic (wax) paint shavings inside layers of paper called laminations. A lamination refers to the process of sandwiching materials in between two freshly pulled sheets of handmade paper. Once the paper drying process is complete, these two sheets then fuse into one cohesive piece of paper with the materials trapped inside. The ability to both absorb and reflect light makes encaustic paint an ideal medium to be used in tandem with handmade paper and artists books, particularly because of the way that handmade paper absorbs the wax. These inherent properties of the medium (the way it reflects and absorbs light) physically mimic the many concepts I explore through my work.

The concealed elements in my encaustic-handmade paper laminations are revealed to the viewer in varying degrees. In some cases, such as the white cotton lamination titled Conceal, the paint hidden within is decipherable only by the evidence of its bumpy texture under the surface of the sheet. In the lamination titled Reveal I heated the paper until the wax-based paint inside melted, partially absorbed through the paper and literally blossomed forth from within. Laminations that have been fused in this manner can be held to the light in order to reveal an even more interesting image – the paper transforms itself into a glowing stained glass picture. This visual effect is due to the unique relationship between the paper and the wax, which is activated by light.

By holding the laminations to a light source, the viewer uncovers what was hidden while participating in the process of discovery. Other pieces in this body of work explore the many ways and subtle differences with which light can be used to reveal the “hidden” via the encaustic handmade paper lamination process. Using what I learned from the laminations in my Concealment Series I created Illuminations, a flag book comprised of densely fused, encaustic-handmade paper laminations. The process of reading this highly sculptural book form transforms the work into an exploration of both reader-book interaction and the many ways to conceal and reveal light within an artist book.

These are just some examples of the many ways in which I utilize the paper arts and encaustic to investigate concealment while allowing my viewers to participate in the act of discovery.

Photos by Stephen DeSantis.